To have objected to ‘prayers’ at work

[Iamthewintersale]

Will try to keep this brief… Work in a team of 12, 6 in U.K. and 6 in USA ( mid-west) and once a week we have a team meeting that we take turns in running.

Tomorrow is the turn of A. A is a Republican, church goer, voted Trump because she wanted, quote ‘More money in my pocket book and illegals dealt with’.
So far so MAGA. This came up pre-election as she’s the only Trump fan on the team and was open about it.

On the agenda for the meeting is ‘Prayer’ as point one. I pinged manager a note saying what?? A thinks it would be nice to start off with a prayer. As a team. I have asked for it to be OFF the agenda. US manager thinks it’s ‘harmless’ but has said will clarify.

AIBU to think it’s totally inappropriate??? I’m an atheist for a start, most of my U.K. team are the same or at least agnostic.

Seems weird that she’s never tried this before, but suddenly Trump ‘god saved me to MAGA’ is inaugurated and a team prayer is in the agenda.
We are a large global company, BTW, not some local mom & pop outfit that sells bibles…

YANBU - work is secular. She keeps her views and prayers to herself own time.

YABU - lighten up, what harm can it do.

Absolutely not appropriate. Ask for it to be removed but If your bosses insist it stays on the agenda then tell them you’ll be logging off or removing yourself for that section of the meeting as it goes against your own beliefs
Your bosses are wrong btw, it’s not harmless when a member of the team pushes their beliefs and agendas on others

She thinks she can get away with it now when she might not have before and she's probably right. No faith required.

I wouldn't put up with that.

It's intrusive and presumptuous.

There is absolutely no reason for a prayer before a meeting.

If it goes ahead, I would excuse myself for the duration. If questioned, I would politely say that as you are not a Christian and as prayers within meetings are not used in the UK that it makes you uncomfortable.

It's an absolite piss take to even try to shoe it in, IMO.

@Iamthewintersale I don't get what the issue is. Freedom of religion doesn't mean freedom from religion. I'm indifferent to other people practicing their religion. So if she wants to have a prayer on the call, go for it.

I worked in a workplace that had a number of muslim colleagues. On occasion, I would see them roll out their prayer mats in the office and start praying. Whenever that happened, I would stay silent as a courtesy and carry on working. I think anyone who would get annoyed or offended by that must be a particularly bored person with a lot of free time on their hands.

By the way, the political leanings of your colleague are irrelevant. Religion is a broad church and different religious people will have different political perspectives.

Not sure why the fact she’s a Trump supporter is relevant here? Is the prayer going to celebrate Trump being the new President of the USA or something? If it’s a prayer, of course it’s not appropriate to ring fence the entire team in. And I consider myself a Christian, but would still think it in appropriate.

Don't be so ridiculous.

Full rosary at least.

He led prayers with his own family at Ramadan not his colleagues.

I wouldn't have believed this post, but recently went to US and we went to a restaurant with colleagues there. American colleagues joined hands for grace. I'm Christian but grew up in a staunchly secular country and am used to beliefs being personal. It was really weird.

When it comes to American evangelicals, their political leanings are very much not irrelevant to their religious beliefs. For an awful lot being a Christian and being a Republican are one and the same.

Do you know what "state" means? "Separation of church and state" in the US has nothing to do with privately-owned businesses.

I actually can't believe this is even being entertained and I speak as a practicing Catholic. It's mental.

@MissionBiscuits When it comes to American evangelicals, their political leanings are very much not irrelevant to their religious beliefs. For an awful lot being a Christian and being a Republican are one and the same.

The point I am making is that the same request for a prayer could have been made by a Democrat. While a higher proportion of Republicans are religious, this does not mean that being religious and being Republican are linked- just that they are correlated. So MAGA lady being a Trump supporter isn't actually relevant.

Sometimes it doesn't really matter if the OP is completely truthful (or just posting a completely hypothetical 'problem'), it's still important to share opinions because situations similar to the OP's story do happen. In this case there is apparently a need to explain to some people why organised prayer has no place in a work environment.

When it's your turn, add a Wicca prayer into the agenda.

You know every day in the House of Commons starts with time for prayer? MPs who attend can reserve their seat for the whole day, so on days when parliament is busy, non-religous MPs are literally left standing (there are more MPs than seats) and won't be called on to speak. Utterly ridiculous in this day and age, in a majority non-religous country that this still happens at the highest level of power. The grip that religion still has in secular places of work never ceases to baffle me.

I can't imagine that being on an agenda at work. How long a prayer is it?

I would be tempted to question what was the meeting about a prayer was needed- is it about payrises?:)

I would call in after the prayers. It's a slippery slope.

That’s because we have an established church and parliament is constitutionally linked to it. Secular business places are an entirely different kettle of fish.

I'm American and work for a US company. This is insanely inappropriate and not at all a common/accepted business practice in America! I would be so uncomfortable with this; A is totally in the wrong.

I don’t know! When we lead the meeting we set our own rough agenda, so there’s always a few standard things we do - go over the figures etc but the rest is up to the individual.
Sometimes it’s ‘themed’ around the time of year, eg a Xmas quiz thrown in etc

Still no word from mgr - I’m about done with work for evening, so I’ll keep an eye out tomoz.

Hmm according to the last census, 37.2% of people in the UK are either atheist or agnostic.

It very inappropriate but I think this may be norm for certain parts of America - They take religion seriously.

That's going to play right into Musk’s narrative about Britain isn't it? Not that I think that's a bad thing at all! 🙄

I would not be happy at all if this happened at work.

Yes, I know. I didn't say business places should have prayers - it's entirely inappropriate.

My Christian Grandparents prayed before every evening meal. My parents were regular church attenders & as far as I am aware my father prayed privately in his bedroom before bed. Although it's not something I do before meals etc I find saying a prayer when I am stressed or worried relaxes me & I feel better afterwards.

To be fair it wouldn't bother me if this was suggested although I would never expect athiest work colleagues to agree and personally would never suggest it in a work situation regardless of them having faith or no faith.

I’m a prayerful Christian and that woman sounds insane. Totally inappropriate.