That prayer to Jesus is inappropriate at a company party?

Literally wrote my thesis on it

It is interesting how many expect that people should behave respectfully while being prayed at. Completely disregardi g how disrespectful it is to put peple in that position by doing the praying. Outside of family homes (when there are no guests) and places of worship,prayers should be personal. There is absolutely no reason for them to be said out loud if the intention is not to pray at people.

Bloody hell, you didn't think to mention the fact that it was in the US in the first place? When I read the first post I thought 'Yeah that is a bit weird', but now I know it was in the US it doesn't surprise me in the slightest. If people being overly goddy upsets you then you really are in the wrong place.

As an aside I love the notion that having a feast and a piss-up suspiciously close to the winter solstice is a uniquely Christian thing that nobody else ever thought of.

I don't understand how many people seem to have no concept of the origins of christmas on this thread.
Jesus is in no way the reason for the season.

Taking umbrage at a Xmas celebration at Xmas time about someone mentioning Jesus seems overblown. Trying to get someone into trouble seems really malicious.

I am not churchy, but I would let it go by.

Sure it’s a little odd, but I don’t think anyone is under threat.

You are assuming that people who are attending a works christmas party are celebrating the birth of a fictional character?

That's spectacular!

I would definitely complain about that. It is even more exclusionary than just the prayer, which is bad enough on it's own.

There WERE festivals around this time of the year pre Christianity
They became overtaken by Christmas and now the wheel is turning again, maybe a name change is in order?
If we are to insist that the annual end of year company piss up is indeed about Jesus Christ than that should be made clear so people can choose to attend or not
ALL workplaces should be completely secular anyway

Christmas is not a pagan festival, it's centred around Christian religious belief. It's also not "the birthday of Jesus" and the time of year is not all that relevant.

The fact that there are other mid winter festivals does not mean that this one is not Christian, even if, in some places, it borrows celebratory elements.

It's actually quite a Euro-centric perspective, Christmas has been, and is, celebrated in many places. In many of them it is not in winter. And many have differernt traditions that have nothing to do with trees or greenery or anything like that.

It's right up there with people who try and use the same "Easter" to try and say it is a stolen holiday based on European pagan celebrations, completely missing that it isn't called that in the vast majority of places even within Europe.

It's just cheesy bad 19th century historical gobblygook.

All this smug stuff about paganism, we all know. Congratulations. We all know that St George was probably Turkish (or even Palestinian!). Its just a smug effort to discredit Christians and show superiority. If you were the first to come up with it, good on you. But this is repeated time and time again.

What on earth has got into you? Where have I picked apart any religion?

This has got to be the silly statement of the year, talk about historical illiteracy.

Yes, we know. But should the OP A) Kick off an complain, create work for someone else, ruin someone's party/week/Christmas/career, B) Go along with it and pray for a religious awakening, or C) Just STFU and dismiss it as a very small part of the festivities, something that isn't for her and enjoy the rest of the event, maybe safely in the smug knowledge that some traditions of Christmas are theorised to have origins in ancient pagan religions.

Tell me, do you take great delight in picking apart other religions and their traditions? Presumably Eid, and Divali have origins in earlier iterations, and we should be equally contemptuous of these festivities?

I might not have worded it right. I meant people may have done so to be polite. She was in America by all accounts who definitely respect freedom of expression

I don't particularly have a problem with any company having some minor religious stuff like this, if the owners or whatever are religious.Particularly at a party type event, but also maybe at something like an opening or whatever.

The particular religion doesn't matter. I'm perfectly capable of sitting while someone does a short prayer. If I can support the prayer or sentiment in my own mind I will or I will just appreciate the intent.

I don't like being asked to participate in a prayer myself, and I think that's bad practice - this happened recently to me at a required work training event about indigenous reconciliation where there was a prayer and smudging. The prayer itself was fine from my own POV but I know smudging was not for some others. It's a little hard to put my finger on the differernce, but I think it real. One is more like being at a friend's for dinner while they say a grace, and the other there is an expectation that you buy in.

What's more unusual in the OPs case is that this is a change in the company practice. I'd be curious about that.

There was always a midwinter festival - Yule. The early Church grafted the birth of Jesus on to this. No one knows at what time of year Jesus was actually born.

Tell that to those that work in slaughterhouses. Religion and its barbaric practices definitely doesn't belong there.

Oof. I’m a Christian myself but religion doesn’t belong in the workplace.

I disagree. Clapping after a performance is polite and the done thing which includes everyone present, but no one is expected to bow their head piously/in prayer when other people are praying but you are not and it’s disingenuous of the OP to suggest otherwise. No one is expected to join in. It isn’t rude to not be religious, just crack on as you were if something doesn’t apply to you.

I mean, was it a Christmas party? This is a Christian country btw, would you complain if you went to a petty in Iran and then said a prayer to Allah before a dinner?

Exactly like everyone was expected to clap after any speech or performance. It’s called being part of polite society

‘Everyone was expected to bow their head’
yeah, right.

Another thing. Are the people yapping on about Christmas adopting aspects of mid winter pagan festivals in response to this question also the people that point out with glee that St. George was actually Turkish as a kind of 'gotcha' to anyone who dares take pride in England and Christian faith? And do you mock and pick holes with other religions, nationalities and cultural practices too?

Christmas is a religious holiday. Without the birth of Christ it wouldn’t exist. I would have no issue if I attended an event that honoured a religious holiday of any faith. It just feels this offence is only afforded to Christianity