To have objected to ‘prayers’ at work

I'm a devout Christian. If someone tried this at my work it would be a toss up between:

• Me volunteering to lead the prayer and praying for us to have the wisdom to keep divisive American politics out of the workplace/ praying that American Christians turn back to god and away from worshipping their country

• Pointedly asking if there will be a rotation of the prayer led by Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist colleagues etc (we're a very diverse workplace!)

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

As you work in the Uk you will be aware that people here have freedoms of both religion and political belief. This applies to everyone, even if you don’t agree with them. It’s a fundamental part of human rights here in the Uk and criticising someone for expressing their views is probably a breach of your company policy.

That’s different from the third point, which depends on your company custom and practice, if it’s not mentioned in policy.

If you don’t wish to particulate you can ask your line manager for a respectful way to opt out.

I understand it can be challenging to work with people of different cultures, ethnicities and religions from your own , but it’s important to respect differences and appreciate that a workplace benefits from diversity and acceptance.

Your HR dept might be able to provide some training for you and your team on diversity and inclusion.

I was going to say I'd be OK with it till I realised she might be a Prosperity Gospel type and would be 'manifesting success in our business' which would completely annoy me - and I'm a Christian myself but I don't support any of that. So no, I think prayers should stay in private time prior to the meeting unless everyone is of the same mindset.

I'd ask your manager to either get it removed, or advise management that you will exit the meeting when that agenda point is hit, and they can message you when they move onto the next point for you to rejoin.

Religion of any sort should have no place in the day to day running of society. It should be something people do in private whilst using their own personal time. It has far too much influence in too many societies and that’s not a good thing - think banning abortion.

YADNBU OP!

i would ask them to ping people who want no part of the prayers as soon as they're over and you'll join the meeting then.

Alternative: play some black sabbath while they're doing it.

It's totally fucking inappropriate to start a business meeting with a prayer.

Back in the early 2000s I had a boss who was an evangelical Christian and believed it was her duty to spread the word about Jesus to 'save' people. This was exactly the sort of stunt she used to try to pull. It wasn't appropriate then and it isn't appropriate now. You should not be asked to participate in prayers of any kind at work. Totally fine for staff to form a Christian network if they want to so they can talk about their faith and so on as a private group at lunchtimes or whatever. Fine for her to be open about her Christianity and talk about her church-related activities during social chit-chat etc. But not fine to add prayers to meetings.

I'm guessing your Christian colleague would kick off immediately if someone tried to include Muslim prayer rituals at the start of a meeting.

That’s an absolute no and I’m religious! I would be extremely unhappy about it. I am more than happy to support colleagues who need/want to pray during their breaks but not in a meeting.

Unless you work for the church it seems bizarre. You should explain that this is awkward and discriminatory towards non Christian staff. If she wishes to pray with other Christians then do something privately. It shouldn't involve the whole company. Of course refuse to participate, but it shouldn't even really be happening at all in company time.

The assumption that this will be Christian prayer, and you will all join in is breathtaking.

Time to join in with your witches prayer.

Yanbu, religion and politics are a no no at work. Your colleague seems like a bellend

As an employee of an international company I think you have a duty to point out how inappropriate this is in a UK setting. Just imagine if she tried it in a meeting with UK-based clients/suppliers. They'd think your whole company was nuts!

Can the UK team join the meeting 10 minutes after the start?

I'd ask to be excluded for that part on the grounds of me being an atheist. Anyone else should be allowed to step out for that part. Hopefully, this should make management realise how inappropriate prayer is in a work setting.

Is this an American owned company or European?
Rightly or wrongly that would probably affect my visible reaction to this (despite actually thinking wtf 🤣)

I’m in the United States. It would be considered completely inappropriate in any workplace I have been.

If this is not removed from the agenda, contact HR.

Do you have any non-Christian colleagues who would be happy to do the prayers. I'd like to see the response if Mo suggested some Islamic prayers

I am a Christian. And I totally disagree with taking faith into work. Performative religion is a bore.

I wonder if you inform your manager you are an atheist, going ahead with a group prayer in the meeting might count as a contravention of your rights under the protected characteristic of religion.

Alternatively, could it be an autocorrect for something else? My phone autocorrects to some really bizarre stuff and if A writes the word prayer frequently, it could potentially be that.

I think I would be raising an item/objection under AOB.

Prayers are bad enough but linking them to an election is even more mind bogglingly weird and inappropriate. America really is a foreign country.

YANBU

If she wants to pray at the start of the workday nobody is stopping her, but she doesn’t get to make all the rest of you do it.

If it goes ahead, fine your inner Quaker. Sit in silence for 5 minutes at the next meeting.

A is being inappropriate to try to insert their religion into a work meeting.