That prayer to Jesus is inappropriate at a company party?

[Kate8889]

I went with my husband to a company Christmas party and before we started to eat a woman came to the microphone and said a short prayer in the name of Jesus as thanks/blessings for the food. Everyone was expected to bow their head.

This is the first time I've been witness to something like this, it is a secular company with many Jewish, Muslim and agnostic people. We have been going to this Christmas party for 7 years and it's never been like this.

The state of university education is pretty dire these days.

I quite like the call to prayer, but I will say that now that often it is done with a loudspeaker, I think it makes it rather unpleasant. The same way bells would be if they were through a loudspeaker. In places with a lot of mosques in the ME it can be a little overwhelming. It's just too loud and often the sound quality is grating.

There are lots of places where prayers are common at these kinds of work events, or public events. People don't seem to get offended when they are in other countries, or other religions. Even though they may be plauralistic countries.

I think the offence in this kind of instance is pretty manufactured. Though I am doubting the OP a little now. Who was this guy who just decided to say a prayer when they had never had one at the party before? What kind of company is this, is it family run?

It doesn't seem to add up.

Maybe if people would keep their stupid secular moral beliefs to themselves as well and stop subjecting their employees to those, it would be a good trade-off...

I couldn’t give two titties. In Christianity it’s about the birth of the big man.

I couldn’t give two titties. For many it is about the birth of JC so let them pray and celebrate. Tyrants on here don’t want that though

Like what?

It is his birthday. I would think it odd nice.

But that's the whole point - Christmas isn’t about Christianity and never has been ;)

If by ‘many’ you mean the 6%, yes, 6%, of the uk population that are practising Christian then I don’t think anyone’s saying don’t pray and celebrate, even using a festival that predates Christianity by millennia. Just keep religion out of a work Christmas party :)

I admit I wouldn’t expect to say Grace at a work Christmas party, however on the other hand it is a Christmas (birth of Jesus) party, so, yes. If I went to a Jewish religious work party I would not bat an eye over a Jewish prayer or any religion come to that, I would be respectful and bow my head and go along with it.

But it’s not even when he was born so…

Kinda a bit like the king or Queens official birthday so...

As soon as I saw the thread I knew it would be a party in the USA.

Loads of American companies have Christian owners and like to shout about it- there's a much bigger market for it over there.

Also, when you look at MAGA, Trump, the move to un-woke or even anti-woke advertising and marketing They're just leaning into the zeitgeist.

Your husband could complain, but if it's the owner or a senior manager who has approved this I wouldn't expect it to get far, and hus card may even be marked as a result.

Introducing religion into a work context when not relevant is never acceptable, in my view.

Also, the origin of Christmas is multi-faceted and much of it comes from pagan and Roman traditions, among others. I thought this was common knowledge!

Why do people keep talking about paganism and pre-Christianity. People know that Christmas has some roots in Saturnalia, paganism, winter festivals etc. But it evolved to become Christmas.

It’s like having a conversation about stilettos as a symbol of women’s oppression and half the posters banging on that it was men who originally wore high heels.. it’s bizarre.

There are lots of things that people do, which you can observe and take no part in. Had a Muslim taken to the podium at an event and read an Islamic prayer or blessing, I’d have watched/observed and left them to it. No need to get offended or demand an investigation.

We can certainly see your agenda

Thing about evolution is its not static, it keeps moving and "Christmas" is moving away from its original meaning to something more like it was pre Christianity
I have attended events around most religions and I was happy to respect the prayers at those event (even if I didn't join in) BUT I wouldn't expect it at a corporate event

It’s not bizarre at although, is it? What’s bizarre is clinging to the religious element when 95% of people have moved on. Christmas hasn’t been about Christianity since the victorians commercialised the whole thing. The Christians co-opted the winter festivals from the 3rd or 4th century CE (so even they ignored it for 400 years) and by the 19th century it had evolved away from religion to almost entirely commercial. Compared to the many millennia that winter festivals existed for before Christianity and after the period it had anything to do with Jesus is just a blip :)

Fine, I think most wouldn't expect it. But should OP create merry hell or just keep it to self-talk?

Of course I believe that people have been called Jesus. I have met people called Jesus. There is more than 1 Jesus in the bible. The water into wine thing not so much. Given the suffering the world I think if anything the old testiment God that hated us is more realistic, than the 0AD woke God of love and flowers.

And now it evolving to become Santa Day and a celebration of consumerism, yet some people still harp to the last century.

Any reason for wanting to stamp out people cleaving to the old ways? I am an atheist, and the religiously observant don’t intimidate me at all. I find it rather quaint.

I would find it massively inappropriate and have never experienced this in 15+ years of working in professional settings.

I wouldn't kick off about it but I'd think it's incredibly weird. Everyone goes to Christmas parties to dance and drink, if you want to pray you can do it somewhere else (and that goes for all religions).

The best thing to do is always be neutral in a workplace - there's enough divide in the world as it is, I don't want to be tiptoeing around it at work too.

How do I break it to Sue in the office tomorrow that she is hypothetical?