To have objected to ‘prayers’ at work

I'm a Christian but find this a bit mad and intrusive. But then I'm British and don't assume everyone shares my faith.

I would ask to say a prayer for all displaced people, refugees and those now fearing deportation from the place they call home.

Pence also declined to endorse Trump, so he may not have cast a vote for either.

Would that the same Mike Pence (lifelong Republican and former VP to Trump) who said he was conservative through and through and would categorically NOT be voting for Harris? Try again.

Totally inappropriate however I’m not sure I could resist praying for something crazy like Brad Pitt.

It's near run thing though and Christians in the uk are outnumbered by those of other faiths and no faith outnumber them by a significant percentage. Given that less than 10% of the population actually go to church I suspect that there is a huge percentage of people who claim to be christian are christian in name only.

Did she make more money when he was in last time? Genuine question because I would've thought the answer would be no but it would be interesting to know what she said about that.

that's the one!

I'd do this too

Just say that you wish to absent yourself from the meeting for the prayer item and could someone please let you know when it is over so you can return for the rest of the meeting.

It's more than an imposition. Under the Equality Act belief and non-belief are both protected and anyone whose behaviour could be interpreted as seeking to impose their religious beliefs on anyone of another faith (or none) could be accused of discrimination.

Any prayers, for any religion, should be outside of a meeting.

Join the meeting and then drop off again and ask to be notified when the meeting starts proper.

This isn't about her faith or her politics. It shouldn't be in a workplace unless it was a Diversity and Inclusion session which I believe Trump is stopping anyway.

yeah, it's not like they're expecting anyone else to stop working while they do it, or join in. that's a requirement of their religion, that is being allowed for by employers, and not impacting anyone else as long as it doesn't take too much time out of their working day.

I dunno. I'd say that can still be considered private, as everyone is there for the same purpose. it's more about the praying to be SEEN to be praying if that makes sense.
I'm Pagan, and have taken part in group rituals, but wouldn't just do them out in the open in a preachy way. because it's my path. with others on the same path, it's not the same as me announcing, right, now I'm going to bless this meal in front of everyone, look how holy I am.

Love your thinking.

Like she could really go to town with this if she can keep a straight face. Closed eyes and a bit of swaying maybe? 😂

@FadedRed

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.

That would make an amazing drip-feed.

I worked for many years for a long-established firm of City solicitors: the early morning meeting was referred to as "partners' prayers". No actual praying was involved!

shuggles · Today 20:47

There was no impingement, and no beliefs were imposed on anyone. A woman asked to say a prayer during a meeting, which is not imposing anything on anyone

Yes, it absolutely is an imposition to demand that other people join her in thanking an imaginary being for getting a sex offender elected. It's an imposition to demand that people join in in fantasy conversations with imaginary beings for any reason.

Many years ago I worked for an American company. Each day the managers went off to a meeting called morning prayers. I remember thinking have I joined some weird cult! 😂 I later had to go to cover morning prayers it was just a clinical reporting meeting. The actual prayers had been dropped as soon as the American boss had left!

I'm american and fairly often perform senior HR functions for a US company. I would be shocked to have anyone bring this up. There are so many things wrong with this. The individual suggesting the prayer time needs HR training ASAP. Suggesting this could result in people feeling discriminated against based on grounds of religion, and people who decline could feel that future events trigger concerns of retaliation for non joining in. Leadership needs to take a strong line against that for the good of the company. I'm sure the person in question is just very religious and wanted to include people in their lifestyle choices, but no, this is simply not an ok suggestion.

Can you not imagine any circumstances where this might not be trivial? Because many of us can.

New International I would think.

Teaching job 2. Secular secondary comprehensive. Technically there should be a collective act of worship every day.

Laws written in different times.

School was approx 66% white, few of any faith. 25% Muslim, mainly male, 10% Hindu. So whatever I did it stood a fair chance of upsetting someone.

I did a thought for the day/quick discussion/chat about events in the news.

The King James Version of that verse is much better - prayers should be in the closet

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

That's not the King James Bible. The King James Bible is the "ye olde Englishe" version which the Americans love because that type of English sounds holy to them.