Very religious colleague

Religious and political discussions are and always have been, no-go areas at work. Except if you work in that area I suppose. He must extremely young and naive to be behaving like that.

Are there any other religious people in the office who might be able to have a quiet words about what’s appropriate at work?

Religious tolerance needs to go both ways. You are very tolerant and accommodating of his views, he needs to be tolerant and accommodating of other viewpoints too.

Ughhh. I'm a committed Christian with a strong faith and go to church at least twice a week. I'm on the Tea and coffee rota for after the service, and the Welcome Team on the front door. I help clean the church and volunteer helping refugees and asylum seekers. And even I want to punch him. He's being a dick. How on earth is this persuading people they might like to follow in his footsteps? You have my full permission to tell him he's being a complete knob.

Ask if he's trying to be a good Christian or trying to be more like Christ. There's a massive difference.

You can have evangelical Catholics.

He obviously knows they are not widely shared - trying convince others of them is the problem! But no one so far has told him that is an issue.

Yes, but evangelical Christians are a lot more proactive than for example, catholics. That’s why you’ll often see evangelical types street preaching and so on. They’re very focused on outreach and people “being saved”.

Evangelism means spreading the word/trying to gain converts. Any denomination of Christian can be evangelical.

Having a religion is like having a penis. It is perfectly OK to have one but it is not OK to take it out swing it around in polite company.

I love that!

Most of the women I worked with wouldn’t enter into a discussion around his beliefs or dialogue but would say “Inappropriate” and carry on and (ghost) his comeback comments.

The workplace is fraught with all this type of thing now. I’m happy to be retired.

I miss my youth, but not all this crap...

Tbf sometimes I wish it was! Especially the endless Christmas soundtracks in December. I definitely celebrate Christmas but the continuous repetitions of various Christmas hits drive me potty! I have also left pubs and other venues due to the volume of music.

On a more serious note though, music can be discriminatory on the basis of disability including to deaf people and those with sensory issues. Many venues have started doing ‘quiet hours’ to make themselves more accessible.

Probably evangelical, as it’s part of their whole thing to pester everyone else around them to be recruited into the fold.

I was meaning don't play songs with potentially offensive lyrics, it's easy enough to avoid e.g. Katy Perry "I kissed a girl" would, I imagine, cause him upset and there is no need for it to be on a playlist even if most people simply find it to be a pleasant catchy tune.

If the complaint is simply that he disagrees with a singer's lifestyle then he needs to shut up (as per his disagreements with colleagues' lifestyles)

Blimey- I’ve never ever come across any Christian like this in the work place and I’ve worked with Plymouth Bretheren, JW and very Evangelical church ones. Whilst all would share their beliefs if asked none would try and control others actions etc. whilst I have worked with colleagues who would use their religion to control things like team nights out and even pub lunches were stopped as he felt excluded - I’ve always found Christians just quietly remove themselves from situations they find uncomfortable

@CatchingtheCat if he doesn't know that his views on women etc are not widely shared and are generally deemed unacceptable in our society, and he is old enough to have a job, then he must have been living under a rock. He knows exactly what he is doing (and probably doing it in a majority female environment, which will not be accidental).

By letting him promote his views and dictate music choices you are caving to the patriarchy. There is no discrimination in telling him everyone has a right to different views in society, we are to are here to work not discuss those views...then hand him a pair of earplugs/headphones. This level of appeasement/fear of rocking the boat is how the Rotherham grooming gangs remained unchallenged for years.

Yeah that’s true but people need to toughen up and when he starts speaking they walk away or say they aren’t interested.

And yet he is actively discriminating against everyone else in the office.

The best analogy for religion and its place for me is this.

Having a religion is like having a penis. It is perfectly OK to have one but it is not OK to take it out swing it around in polite company.

Go to HR with a discrimination claim.

OP needs to be careful because religion is a protected characteristic and while the rest of the people in the office don’t want his views rammed down their throats, it needs to be tackled in a way that can’t be viewed as discriminatory.

I didn’t say he was right. I said why is it ridiculous for him to think there wasn’t an issue with how he has interacted with his colleagues if he has done so consistently for weeks and no one pulled him up for it? He needs to be told it is a problem.

Tbf if you're in a shop they quite often have music playing. Obviously not stuff with swearing etc but if the music is fairly mainstream and not swearing, why should it be turned off because he's taken offense and everyone else is happy

I think I would be planning on how to decorate the office for Halloween.😈

I would shut it down directly and tell him his comments are inappropriate in the workplace. Don’t let him have the space to lecture you about religion- his views are completely inappropriate in a work context.

No one should be made to feel uncomfortable.

I think you need a playlist that doesn't offend anyone otherwise music should be off.

He needs to stay shtum with his views where they are offensive to others.

This is highly unusual behaviour for a British Christian. None of the behaviour that you describe is normal for any of the Christian denominations with which I am familiar and definitely not in keeping with UK culture around religion. It's so unusual that I wonder if has some other issues going on? Just ask him to stop. It's fine to do that.

Edited to add: the behaviour is unusual, some more conservative US-style evangelical churches would endorses those views. They are outliers in the UK.