To have objected to ‘prayers’ at work

If prayers do become standard, you could have fun with ones to 'the Lord of Light' that don't slip in the name Lucifer until after the evangelical one has done an amen or 2.

I knew before I opened your thread that it would involve an individual from a foreign country.
YANBU at all, this has no place in a meeting of any group other than a group of like-minded religious individuals.
I too would ask to be excused from this imposition on members of the group by one individual.

I'd ask which faith is leading this week and say I'd like to reserve a spot for a humanist 'thought' next time, or if you are brave Satanist.

Has anyone bothered to message A to inform him/her (as they no longer exists in the US) that it's inappropriate?
Just be late to the meeting - urgent budgie catching required.

Remember when we moved to the midwest in the early 70's, the first question was What do you do and the second, Which church do you attend. My father always answered to #1 "the least amount possible" and to #2 "we're an atheist family" Both answers flew over most people's heads so they just nodded and smiled.

OP is raising an issue in the workplace which may contravene UK employment law and asking for advice on how they should act. How is that ridiculous?

I've seen comments on Trumpism but no rants. Perhaps you could define what you perceive to be a 'rant' as opposed to a 'comment' and provide an example of a 'rant' on this thread?

My first response was that this was not appropriate, especially in UK, then I remembered that both UK Houses of Parliament’s daily sessions start with Prayers, so maybe the argument that it is unconstitutional is not quite so correct.

I would protest that, IF prayers/acts of worship are to become a part of your business practice, then it should be multi denominations, including non Christian, and that everyone has the right to refrain from attending, if they chose to, with no recriminations. That should go down like a lead balloon with your American colleagues

A friend of mine once had a job where all meetings started with prayers, but she was PA to an Archbishop, so not unreasonable really.

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

Another Christian here who thinks it inappropriate. I would suggest that everyone who doesn't want to participate mutes and turns off their camera durng the prayer.

I work for a big multinational and this wouldn't be allowed at all. Check your company policy on it. We literally have training on how this type of thing isn't OK in the office.

I remember the Pakistan cricket team used to thank "Mighty Allah" after every win. They seem to have stopped doing it these days, possibly because somebody pointed out that when they lose (especially to Bangladesh) it suggests that Allah decided to desert them that day. So I wonder what this guy does when his lord and saviour Jesus Christ decided that the other team deserved the win.

I do like your suggestion of scheduling prayer time at X:55. That way Little Miss Pocketbook gets to feel all sanctimonious about supporting a rapist, nobody has to miss any of the actual work time, and everyone will know that the Zoom room is running fine (OP could treat the prayers as the equivalent of "One-Two, Testing"). Bonus points for OP if, when she turns her microphone on at X:59:57, the last few notes of a muezzin's call to prayer can just be faintly heard by everyone.

Absolutely inappropriate.

YANBU.

Absolute utter nonsense. We do not have to respect differences, we do not have to accept, and we certainly do not need to find a respectful way to opt out.
We need to.inform said person that she's being entirely inappropriate and to remove it from the agenda immediately, and not to try such a thing ever again.

‘it's not difficult to be respectful of other people's beliefs. I don't know how long people think a prayer will take, but I've never known a prayer in a meeting to take more than 30 seconds.’

You're right, it's not, so why are you advocating for one person to be allowed to disrespect the beliefs of all non-Christian or atheist people in that meeting?

Respect goes both ways - and subjecting others to your beliefs is disrespectful to theirs.

But how does the manager know it's harmless? For all he knows, a number of participants would be deeply offended. It's dangerous to give religious loons free rein on this sort of thing anyway, before you know it they'll be praying loudly to save their rivals within the team from the fiery pit of hell for which they are surely destined, and you'll have open warfare.

mute your mic

leave camera on

don Mongolian Shaman costume

quietly perform shamanistic ritual dance with a completely straight face in full view of camera.

No, leave camera on and ostentatiously slurp coffee whilst carrying on with your work, preferably involving a lot of noisy shuffling of papers, stapling things and hole punching.

Video meeting? If so either:
a) put up a crucifix prominently behind you and dramatically make the sign of the cross as she begins and ends
or
b) make some signs and hold them up Love Actually style, throughout her prayer. Messages along the lines of “Alleluia”, “Praise the Lord!”, so you can’t be accused of making fun of her. You might be able to slip in a “Heavens to Betsy!” and plead ignorance.

If grilled afterwards say that you’ve been banned from taking part in organised religion so you wanted to make the most of the opportunity.

It wouldn't offend me but I believe in God. Workplace however is not the place to pray especially pushing views on others I don't think that's appropriate. She is allowed to support any president she chooses though, you sound rather condescending.

Wtf. Nope. You cannot in a professional meeting force this on colleagues...
If it goes ahead, I'd have Internet connectivity problems..

There are prayers at the start of each day in the Houses of Commons and Lords but attendance is not compulsory link. By tradition the members face the wall, maybe the op could follow this tradition.

More seriously, I'm a Christian but would find this totally inappropriate (Matthew 6 www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zkw2vk7/revision/2

It may be an American company but it’s an international business. If they want the trade benefits of working in other territories then they adapt, not impose.

Can you turn the sound off? And hope that it doesnt end with an Elon Musk salute! By the way, as a Christian myself, I think it's totally inappropriate.

This thread is ridiculous and so is the OP. I think it's just a rant about Trump, what a bore. Enjoy.

You're working with colleagues in the US for whom this is important. You could make a point but why? How would it serve you?

It can't be that important if they've never done it before.

It could set an unwanted precedent

As a devout Christian, I think this is inappropriate. The workplace is not a place for public prayer.