... to be annoyed at the Muslim who prays next to me in work?

[Beethoven]

I share a small office with two other people. A new guy has started who's a muslim, and will roll out his mat and start praying behind me. I know it doesn't hurt me, but I feel a little uncomfortable for the few minutes that he does it.

Am I being an unreasonable bigot?

Posie, that argument bothers me because it's circular. You assume that atheism is the default position, the base from which we all start.

How about if I said, I don't think anyone has the right to inflict their atheism on anyone?

By doing what?

Mowiol, 'proof-texting' means citing or referring to part of the Bible to support your argument. It's not an insulting term, just what you were doing. I only mentioned it because I think there are so many contradictions in the Bible, which isn't even the relevant holy book, that we might as well leave it out of the discussion.

Posie - is 'by doing what' a question to me?

This is a place of work, not public transport and you would be well within your rights to ask someone not to have leaky headphones at work.

LRD - How is anyone assuming that? Whatever point we start from I don't want to sit next to it AT WORK. I'm sure if i decided to get naked and throw flowers around me whilst chanting AT WORK all my colleagues would have the right to feel uncomfortable (after they finished laughing/throwing up)
Riven - where do you work that people listen to headphones? I need a new job!

Food/religion....no contest really. Most people eat at lunch/break...not during working hours, well never any place I've worked.

While not a muslim myself, my DH and children are and I can't help wondering if the chap in question simply thought unless someone objected he was free to carry on. In my experience, praying is a private matter and it is unusual to pray in 'the open' in an office. Even at our school, the girls had another room that was used for prayer (actually the stationary cupboard but plenty of room and nice and clean).

OP, I would suggest helping your colleague to find another suitable, private location for his prayers. I'm sure that he would be very grateful for your help :)

YABVU

have some tolerance and respect for other people and their beliefs.
Do you find it uncomfortable because he's Muslim or do you find prayer of any sort uncomfortable?

I see it as no different to people eating their lunch at their desk.

Minxie - I think you're proving my point, aren't you? It's not considered the 'norm' in civilized society to get naked, that's why people would object. Being naked is considered 'rude' by virtually everyone in Britain (it might be different in other societies, and we'd adjust our reactions accordingly).

You can feel uncomfortable. I always feel embarrassed if I see prayer, because i feel if I'm intruding.

But if you act on your feelings, then you will be deeply unreasonable.

I would imagine OP has to monitor and tailor her own behaviour at these times, when she needs the loo, laughs loudly, takes/makes a call.

coolfoonz that is incredibly rude. People are entitled to worship in whichever way they wish. As long as they are not trying to force another person to follow the rules of their religion I really don't see the problem.

A place of work is no place for religion. Is it the Op's business to stick a cartoon of The Prophet Muhammed on her desk or is religious freedom reserved for the religious?

Has this kicked off yet???

Oh yes

I wouldn't mind this at all. It surprises me a bit that it would bother people but I guess it takes all sorts.
I would be far more annoyed with people who make personal phone calls all day, or the miserable fuckers, or the ones who never have anything positive to say. And the ones who eat egg sandwiches.
As I understand it the prayer is private and focussed so I would guess he wouldn't have any issue with what I am doing at the same time. So not really sure why it would bother others.
But MN seems to be filled with people who would just like the rest of the world to fuck off.

I remember seeing a guy at Twickenham praying about 5 meters from a crowd of blokey types all of whom paid him no mind at all. He wasn't doing anything to interfere withthem so why should it be a problem

But posie, you believe a place of work is no place for religion. That belief isn't universal. You believe it, so you want to impose that belief on everyone else.

I may agree with you that I'd prefer not to see people praying, but it should be acknowledged that this is not a neutral position to hold.

Job descriptions say otherwise.

I'd be mighty pissed off if I was an employer and they were doing that on my time.

No, Posie, they don't. As far as I know, all workplaces have to ensure that discrimination on grounds of religion is not allowed. And I have never heard of a workplace not allowing workers time off on break. It's fairly common for, say, hotmail to be banned at work, but I doubt praying would be, because it would come under the discrimination heading.