To have objected to ‘prayers’ at work

Not appropriate unless you work in a religious type place eg Catholic school, bible printers etc. since you don’t work in this kind of place it is not appropriate. I say this as a Christian.

I'm American and I absolutely agree with this. Be warned, though, that the courts in America, including the Supreme Court, seem to be taking a fairly shameful position on what constitutes religious freedom.

https://www.theguardian.com/law/2022/jun/27/supreme-court-coach-prayers-joseph-kennedy

I don't care if it's generic and 10 seconds long. I would not allow myself to be hijacked in that matter. If she's invoking any sort of superstition or philosophy, it's inappropriate.

This x1000.

She can do whatever she wants on her personal time; dance around a red MAGA cap in her garden for all care. But she cannot hijack others' workplace for her superstitious and political agenda. People are convening to work, not to hear her or anyone else's personal ideology.

I left a job with a U.S. company (I’m uk based) after being told that a project I had worked my bum off for, and given up countless weekends to, was successful because our senior manager had prayed and allowed ‘Jesus to take the wheel’.
Had she fuck. It was our hard graft that got that bin fire under control. Even she wasn’t dumb enough to try and get us to actually pray.

Wholly inappropriate.
I work for a Midwest US company, based in Pence-opolis. They have early morning prayer calls that individuals can go to, never ever in a meeting because they're also a global multicultural organisation.
I am also an atheist. One colleague/friend always says he will pray for me. He understands when I lightheartedly tell him not to waste his energy. I send him my good wishes when he is having challenges, he knows it is my equivalent and sends similar comments back.

it’s important to respect differences and appreciate that a workplace benefits from diversity and acceptance.

I agree. But how is mandating Christian prayer inclusive and accepting of non-Christians on the team?

All faiths and none are accepted equally in my workplace. Our networks put on specific events around different observances, which people are free to attend or not.

We don’t have prayers on the agenda of any meeting for any religion. Thank God 😉

I'm American and Jewish so this would be a huge, huge, huge no from me. That's super, super weird.

I wouldn’t settle for that @Motomum23. She can invite people to join her in her prayers before or after and the prayer meeting should have no influence on things said or decisions made at the subsequent meeting. It should not under any circumstances be part of the business of the meeting in a secular company. If my job requires me to attend a meeting it should not require me to self exclude for any reason not directly related to the work.

Absolutely inappropriate.

Imagine being paid to take part in that twaddle!

Regardless of the reason for her belief - she could be insanely MAGA or she could be a devout Muslim- there is no call for prayer in the workplace. If they don't take it off the agenda I would personally tell the team via the meeting that you will be turning off camera and microphone for 5 mins and not partaking in the prayer.

Indicating that the prayers are in addition to the working day, not included within it, for example as the first item on the agenda at PM questions or committees, which is a good analogy to what the OPs colleague is suggesting.

I mean, I rather they didn’t, but slotting it in before/after work in a place that people can choose to go or not is a work around.

I assume they thinks it’s appropriate but how narrow minded of them.
Sit quite and don’t join in.

Keep politics and religion OUT of the workplace!!!!

The thing about the prayers at parliament are a) it’s a historic precedence that b) people can opt out of without out detriment to their careers.

I seem to remember prayer in council meetings was deemed unlawful https://ukhumanrightsblog.com/2012/02/10/high-court-bans-god-from-council-meetings/#:~:text=The%20High%20Court%20today%20ruled,part%20of%20their%20formal%20meetings.

Tell her as a Brit the king is the head of the church and you'll need to sing some rounds of god save the king first.

Unless it's Parliament. They start with prayers.

I wouldn't join the meeting until the prayer was over. Utterly ridiculous. I have plenty more to add, but don't want to offend those religious folk. What really annoys me is that some of them feel entitled to offend atheists by spouting their religious rhetoric.

Parliament starts every day with three and a half minutes of prayer.

https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/business/prayers/

'Sittings in both Houses begin with prayers. These follow the Christian faith and there is currently no multi-faith element. Attendance is voluntary.'

'Attendance is voluntary' - by the look of the empty benches so is much of the days proceedings.

As a UK agnostic the only way I could possibly feel comfortable with and accept it is if we had a religious team member who was gravely ill/terminally ill/just passed and everyone was just sending good thoughts/paying respects to that person. This of course really should be set as a moment of reflection/good will/respect for that person and not set in any specific religious terminology or anyone forced to say words not aligned with their personal views. I’m kind of thinking sort of how everyone observes the 2 minute silence on Remembrance Day.

I think you need to separate out three things

• your dislike of her politics
• you dislike of her religion
• Having religious observance during a work meeting

Yes @OliveThe0therReindeer your points 1 and 2 are valid, but it's point 3 that is inappropriate.

BECAUSE we live in a country which guarantees religion & belief (2020 Equality Act) religious observance during a work meeting - or almost any work situation - is inappropriate. Because one person's religious belief/belief may impede or contradict another person's religious belief/belief.

There's no hierarchy of protected characteristics: one person's belief does not trump another person's [different, even contradictory] belief.

If that's what you think, you haven't read it.

Yank here. I've been working for more than 40 years and have never heard anyone talk about their church, bible study, or say "god bless 'Murica" in a work context.

Perhaps your unconscious bias is showing.

😂 even better, I'd whip out a pair of rosery beads while you're at it. Don't forget to record it lol