Religion in the workplace

[Whatothink]

For the last month we have been sent messages email, background screens and management briefings for a particular religion.

the following messages to

”showing visible support,
encouraging meaningful conversations, and deepening our understanding of the experiences of those of observences”

as well as being told to be considered with meetings etc and thoughtful and supportive!!!

Wonderful, and much more in evidence in Sandinavia than in the UK.

I'm not denigrating her experience. But it is very limited experience. Two people. Out of I think circa 2 billion practicing Muslims? Should I not have said that my experience is different then? If not, why not? My experience is equally valid and more expansive than two people.

Oh dear. Evangelising does get some Christians into hot water.

The sacred week of cheese runs from 26/12 to 31/12 - its delicious

Bank holidays are nothing to do with current religious practice. They are available for everyone (unless you work the many jobs where they aren't)

If you are contracted to work Bank holidays, no one will give you the time off just because you say you are religious and want to go to church - I know people that tried and they were told no.

They are rooted in a time when Christian holidays were pretty much the only holidays in town.

Having a religion and having no religion should be equal in terms of what is available to you in a working environment.

Having a religion should afford you no further time off in a workplace, either in work time or out of it.

Having a religion should not afford you extra consideration either - in fact I just don't want to know about your religion or belief system. Keep it between you and your god(s) or other religious leaders.

Can it also include the bloody Olympics? Do I get fed up with that! 😞

I doubt Muslim majority workplaces are sending out emails asking colleagues to be considerate abd thoughtful during lent.

I've lived in West Sussex, London, Cardiff, Swansea and the Falkland Islands.

I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but in the same way you've met awful people I have met many lovely people.

Yes!

Meanwhile my DH has a Muslim colleague whose wife is a GP and works full time, although she is currently on maternity leave. They're both devout Muslims and she sees male patients as well as female ones.

It seems too short to me...

true but then it depends on the company

Absolutely they should be encouraging visible support and encouraging meaningful conversations. Tolerance is a wonderful thing. I am sure said employers will show such support to Lent, Good Friday, Yom Kippur, Tisha B’Av, Uposatha, Navratri, Maha Shivaratri, and Paryushana too.

I don't understand what exactly you're questioning here. Feel free to clarify!

but she has to work with a man who she knows married a 14yo child. I would find this very difficult. Nothing to do with his religion but because I'd have to sit next to a paedophile for 40 hours a week. I'd really rather not know.

Of course its his religion that dictates that a grown man can marry a 14yo girl - I would find this distressing and disgusting & I would be very opposed to any religion that promotes or supports this. Would my employer let everyone know my views so they could be sympathetic to me? of course not. The most I could ask for would be a discrete move so I wouldn't have to be around the paedophile.

How nice of your employers to do this. It is Ramadan and many people are working whilst fasting, not only from food, but also drinks, including water. It's good to be aware of this isn't it?

Is your workplace open all year round? Does it close for Christmas?

"Because at the moment you're just coming across as intolerant of other religions."

what "other" religions? Are you assuming the OP is coming from the POV of one religion? I didnt see that.

I thought that comment was a joke

In what way should people be showing consideration?

Why

Some people would far rather live in blissful ignorance.

They’re not pushing a religion on to anyone. It’s literally just explaining that some colleagues won’t be eating or drinking anything so don’t ask them to do meetings over lunch, don’t badger them about why they’re not eating your Colin the Caterpillar cake and don’t use the
prayer room to phone your mates in your break. Plus it’s explaining why some colleagues might want to use any flexible working options available to them to make fasting easier.

Do you get this angry when people wish you merry Christmas or arrange a work Christmas do? What about colleagues bringing in a box of Crème Eggs at Easter? Or is it just Islam that makes you crap your knickers in outrage?

Aha, so this is what it's all about then. It's not about religion, it's about certain ones. I assume you believe Muslims are trying to take over the world?

I'm all for greater understanding - opening a dialogue and general tolerance between different religious and cultural groups. Having said that, I've volunteered in a variety of different settings working with people from all backgrounds and in all my roles volunteers have pretty much had it drilled into them not to mention any personal faith. In fact, they're told not to even discuss any religious topics at all in case they risk causing offence - which is fine if this is applied consistently.

To be honest though, from my experience, it's discussion of the Christian faith the NHS, civil service, education dept and most charitable organizations get angsty about whereas there seems to be active policies to promote learning and understanding about and between other religious groups.

I think this is probably because Christians are just less likely to kick up any fuss - all the ones I know are extremely woolly and liberal - like me 🤷

Ok so your problem is that I assumed the OP belongs to a religion? What a weird thing to take issue with.