To have objected to ‘prayers’ at work

Any type of praying needs to be done outside of work time, its not something that should be happening during a work meeting.

Suggest that the that want to pray do so at a tea break or lunch break.

I do love a song or a poem and would gladly volunteer to inflict entertain the meeting with my singing of a favourite song or recite a poem. I could even do a psalm to combine it with religious sentiment. Wicked!

@Iamthewintersale That’s batshit, don’t put up with it. This person is attempting to set a precedent & she will no doubt continue to push more & more boundaries to test how far she can go. So your company needs to nip her nonsense in the bud! If she does not like it, she can resign and go to work for a church or the rump administration.

As a Christian, couldn't agree more

Well I’m neither an atheist nor an agnostic- but this is highly inappropriate. Work is secular religion/belief is a private matter.

I would ask if next time you can sacrificial a goat/lamb/virgin according to your religion

I would reply all with a list of ‘suggested order of prayers for meetings going forward’:
Jewish; Catholic; Hindu; C of E; Sikh; Jain; Pagan; Protestant; Wiccan; Humanist( Islamic; and ask if anyone has any others they would like to add.

"I have online meetings where the team chats about football/rugby from the weekend."

But is "chat about football" an actual agenda item as in this case?

I am an active Christian and I would find this inappropriate in a completely secular organisation. As a previous poster has commented in such a setting as a faith based school I would not object even if it were a different denomination or faith to mine. I have been in this situation and would maintain a respectful silence if I felt that I could not join in.

Oh yes, really nice. "I wish that shooter had managed to kill Trump"

Agree, but they prioritise those of faith when allocating places and implicit within that is the fact that it is a school where the faith colours the education - and prayers will be said in assemblies? Either way, you are consenting to a religious education and prayers?

But the fact is, prayers have not been said in most schools on a daily basis for decades, even at a faith school [my DD went to one 10-15 yrs ago and assembly was once a week, in fact so did I 45-50 years ago and likewise, one assembly a week, sometimes in the church next door 🤷🏻‍♀️].

I am not fiercely anti-religion the way the OP and many others may be but apart from anything else, I would find it distracting from my work and the business of the meeting. And I cannot understand why people need to form private religious associations in the workplace but apparently they do.

You could either put up with it - that famous tolerance we're supposed to exemplify - or make your point and objection. But if religious belief or expression of it is not to be tolerated in the workplace, that calls into question the enforcement of other kinds of belief or practice one may be signed up to because considered 'a good thing', for instance the celebrated doctrine of 'd'. And might not participating in religious prayer be an instance of celebrating the 'd'?

On the particulate point (predictive text?) I strongly suspect that if forced to participate the OP might combust and turn into a mass of particulates.

My actual school song (but we didn't do it with the Lloyd Webber tune). Starting a meeting with a prayer is totally inappropriate.

If she insists, ask if you can do a pagan prayer at the next meeting.

Love it!

On a further note, religion needs to be kept out of the office/work place.

I work for a team that has people dotted about the world, we make every effort to acknowledge any religious celebrations, we send mass emails, people share photos of them and their families celebrating etc.

That said it would be completely inappropriate for anyone of any faith to start praying in a meeting - its very odd, are you supposed to just sit there or is there an expectation to join in??

Trump has nothing to do with it.
Many religious individuals want prayers to be allowed at the workplace, such as muslims and I doubt they are pro Trump.
But no, nobody should be imposing their religion on others.

Totally inappropriate. And as a pp said there are laws about this.
I am religious but would never do and wouldn't participate. Honestly I'd take it further depending what the manager says. It is not appropriate in the work place.

As this prayer is totally irrelevant to your work (I assume) I can't see how the manager / organiser of the meeting is allowing it.

It's nothing to do with freedom of religion or appropriateness, it's just completely out id context.

Why don't you ask to sing a football song the next time a We never walk alone or something similar?

I am religious and think this is outrageous! Very offensive to have it imposed and especially for anyone who doesn't follow the same sect or religion or has no religion

The world's going to turn into the Handmaid's tale soon. Of course YANBU. Why do people feel it's okay to impose their religious or spiritual beliefs on others I have no idea, especially in work environment.

I would be raising an objection with managers.

Whatever goes in the USA prayers, doubtless of the Christian form, have no place in the workplace.

@Iamthewintersale just tell your manager and cc A that you do not mix religion with work and that this is a secular meeting. that you will NOT be participating and that either the prayer is removed from the agenda or someone can ping you when the meeting proper is about to start.

I doubt they would expect Muslim or Jewish colleagues to join in with their Christian prayers, so I don’t see why they think it is ok to make an atheist do it