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.

Deeply weird. I would not appreciate other people imposing their religion on me in the workplace.

The woman wasn't celebrating her own Christian faith, if she was she could have said her own prayer over her food or whatever. She was forcing everyone else to celebrate her religion which is totally inappropriate.

If a Muslim did the same thing the next day the Daily Mail would be shrieking about the Great Replacement Theory.

Of course! I understand it's a conceptual social construct that different people define in different ways!

@Kate8889jesus at a Christmas celebration is inappropriate??? Get a grip it’s literally his time of year 😂😂😂

No it isn’t. There are a large number of Christians in this country, of many denominations, who celebrate the birth of Christ in December. The date was originally a pagan festival, but was used by Christians to celebrate Jesus’s birth from about the 4th century. Thats why it’s called CHRISTmas.
It is a random date through as although nobody knows the date when Jesus was born, most theologans agree it wasn’t in December!
Surely a quick blessing at Christmas isn’t forced prayer; people don’t have to agree or say Amen if they don’t believe.
Wishing you a blessed time with your family, whatever you believe.

I'm not religious, but I wouldn't care.

No it's not. And I say this as a Christian myself.
Jesus was not born on 25th December. His DoN was not recorded.
For millenia before He was born, and on distant planets with similar cold and hungry seasons where His name has not yet been heard, people have held a big party at the coldest and darkest time of year. That Christians came along and culturally appropriated all the ancient Yule traditions to absorb into Christ's festival may be fair enough for how we have adapted that in the last 2000 years but the non-Christians have as much right to a midwinter celebration as Christians do and if they call it Christmas rather than anything else that's more due to centuries where it was culturally unacceptable to admit to unbelief more than any other reason worth sneering at.

But "Christmas" is widely understood as a time of year and a time for midwinter celebration and gift-giving as well as the religious aspect (which actually has no link to December 25th). What have Santa or decorated trees got to do with Jesus?

It's strange to get worked up about this either way. Talk about religious intolerance

I would say the word "inappropriate" is used inappropriately these days. It should be reserved for actual harrassment

I used to go to a work-related event run by an industry organisation that included quite a fancy dinner and there was always a short grace before the dinner. I'm Jewish but wasn't bothered by it, I just assumed the head of the organisation was perhaps Christian and liked to have that at their flagship event, which I was OK with.

I have been to lots of christmas parties. Never have witnessed any praying, or considered it to be anything relatung to Jesus. I would be very shocked to see this at a work eventand would not be at all surprised if there were complaints.

Don't be ridiculous. Hardly anyone believes that myth and a Christmas party is about having fun with colleagues and businesses thanking staff

Couldn’t agree more. Well said.

I'd be surprised and think it was unusual but I think it's fine at a Christmas party. I'd also be fne with a Muslim prayer at an Eid party (if companies even do those) or Hindu prayers at Diwali celebrations (which I think are common).

I don't think prayers of any religion have any place at a secular party though.

I think this is why a lot of businesses are rebranding Christmas parties as being an end of year/Winter/holidays party.

As someone who was brought up Muslim, yes it's a little uncomfortable but if it's one small prayer then it's not really a big deal. I've worked in Dubai as well (as an apostate/exMuslim) and just quietly got on with things when people bring up Islam (the locals bring religion more into everyday conversation than we do in the UK). I'd say it is more comfortable overall when religion isn't brought into the workplace, but it's also not unreasonable for there to be references to Christianity or a small prayer if the event is advertised as specifically for Christmas.

Ultimately, does it really matter? As long as I'm not expected to convert I'm not going to give much headspace to it

They could've expected me to bow my head all they liked but I absolutely wouldn't have done it.

Definitely inappropriate.

I've taken part in this kind of thing for various religions. It is just good manners to show tolerance.

Prayer is inappropriate anywhere other than in church or in your own home.

I don't think I'm unusual in that the only Christian element about my Christmas celebrations is the name Christmas. That's only because its the cultural norm.

I have a tree, give gifts, spend time with family, have special food and those are all parts of Saturnalia.

Lots of suggestions here about what might happen at a hypothetical ‘Eid party’ or ‘Diwali party’. I would say that the reason companies have a big Christmas do but only have low-key, if any, celebration of religious festivals like Eid, even if they have a significant number of Muslim employees, is precisely that work Christmas parties are by tradition entirely secular events and therefore inclusive to all employees (except Jehovah’s Witnesses obviously!).

Religious events for the benefit of those who are of that faith and to widen cultural understanding - great as an opt-in thing, but unless it’s an explicitly Christian organisation and you sign up to that when you join, then all-company events should be secular.

Any Muslim members of staff may have uttered “Bismillah” prior to eating, or a Jewish person may have recited the brachot. Any Hindus may have recited the appropriate mantra. No problem with any of these, and no problem with this lady saying grace by herself, but grabbing the microphone to do it is proselytising and that’s not appropriate in a workplace setting. Anyone who follows any religious faith is entitled to enact their rituals as individuals, but not to put others in a position where they have to participate themselves

I totally agree it would be wrong to compel prayer (at either an Eid or Christmas do).

I think it would be wrong for a company to compel/quasi-compel Eid do attendance. Because it’s intrinsically religious.

I also think it would be inappropriate to start the company AGM with a public prayer (assuming it’s not a religious org). Because it’s an intrinsically secular event.

To me, Christmas has a dual nature in our culture. It’s definitely a secular event (so I don’t think quasi-compelled attendance is necessarily wrong). But I think it’s still a religious celebration for a significant number of people.

How to strike the right balance for a dual-nature event like that? I think having a prayer but not compelling participation is within the bounds of reasonable things to do. And to me, staying silent during prayer isn’t forced participation.

Like, would I find it inappropriate have a loyal toast to the queen at a work event? Yes a bit. But if it’s a work party to celebrate the jubilee then I think that changes it. No one should ever be expected to participate, but what it’s reasonable to expect people to be exposed to depends on the context. A Christmas do? Being exposed to some Christianity doesn’t strike me as unreasonable.

These people weren't engaging in a festival dedicated to him. They were at a company party.

It would be different if they went to a church service at this time of year and started complaining about the Jesus talk.

No anything else is not commercialism! What about the pagan festivuties that predated any idea of christianity? Whatabout the celebrations of other faiths? Or the people who are simply enjoying some time connecting with family?

Dismissing every other aspect of christmas as commercialism is reductive and just nasty.

Out of interest would you come on here and pose this question had it been a prayer to Allah?

No it didn't. It started as a pagan festival.