Football fans can get heated, but youre probably not going to make your coworkers feel alienated or uncomfortable by talking about your love for the Steelers or whatever. The first time I had dinner with my BFs family I had a mouthful of food in before I realized that everyone held hands and had a quick prayer before eating. I get the sense that you -are- Wiccan, No Mas, and good for you if you want to be out and proud about it. Funny my story was in a work environment that has very much to do with local elections :) It wasnt a church, but I suppose it draws all kinds! There is a line between identifying yourself and imposing your beliefs on others. internal mysteries of the combustion engine Oh my Ford. Though most people do not want to talk about why they engage in strange compulsive actions, you might be surprised at just how often an unwanted thought is behind . But, since theyre racist, it makes sense, I guess? I would really urge caution before in effect impersonating an adherent of a stigmatized religious minority in order to antagonize Christians, even annoying ones. Regardless of whether you believe that Jesus was the son of God, he still died for his beliefs, and to say that crucifixion is equally to hanging out is justgross. +1 Yeah, when my brother passed I had a lot of mental mantras along the lines of they meant well even if they said something that upsets me (only I thought ruder things than that upsets me!). But there are some aggressive soul-winners out there, to be sure. I had one workplace where I was already looked down on for my Obama bumper sticker when I rolled up day one. Im really sorry that you have to deal with working with that wackjob. This continued until a couple of weeks ago (I assume they finally ran out of pamphlets?). She talks to Bob about God for upwards of 40 minutes every day, and has long conversations about religion with other people as well. Yeah, wow, that actually comes across as bizarrely threatening. Ive found in these kinds of situations, its key to work with wording that emphasizes and prioritises your inconvenience: so, more than just AAMs, I dont want to talk about God at the office, Id go with straight up, Im not comfortable talking about God at the office. My family member is utterly delighted with his religion, and doesnt read body language so has ZERO idea hes making many people squirm with discomfort and actively avoid him. It does give me a little extra pleasure to listen to my True Crime or murder podcasts while she is talking about religion. She is creating a hostile work environment for anyone who is not precisely in sycn with her. 5. Im not a fan of the show and she knew this but thought she could convert me. I dont really either! I grew up with people like that. Good luck! So yes, I feel for the OP, and think that all the people who describe this as inoffensive or kooky have perhaps not spent enough time being a discriminated-against and silenced minority. who is really following their faith will should totally understand that their behaviour is making others uncomfortable & be willing to adjust accordingly. I love my job, and I have so much work to do!. But I thought the night time belonged to our lord satan., Of course Im a heathen who is going to hell so. Im not even sure which sport they do. If I was making my friend that uncomfortable, especially in a friendship that I wanted to maintain, Id absolutely want to know. I explain that I actually really envy those who have faith and/or religion in their lives, because it offers the support of a church community and a sense of peace that He has your back. I dream of the day we get a popular fantasy series that doesnt rely on cheap gimmicks to take off. I do so by judging bigots on their bigotry and listening for the dogwhistles, not just assuming anyone who likes the same things as them must be one of them. Best of all, she was my team lead, so there I was, stuck with a supervisor who kept on trying to tell me about Jesus and asking me if I knew who Moses was. Could be a fundamentalist offshoot, I suppose, but they tend to use the same lingo. I would feel less awkward about wonking and could actively apologize when I do so. Miss Manners: What to say to friends who talk politics? - The Mercury News Again, very sorry, for your losses and very sorry to hear people were so cruelly thoughtless. Just because Im not mainline Protestant doesnt mean I dont believe in Jesus, yo! True, but its worth noting that if OP is trying to actually get others on her side, bringing up THAT as an example actually hurts the argument. Or in the cartoons, or something. What should you do? I once had a coworker who would spend several hours a day on the phone, making personal calls about lawsuits she had going against multiple former employers. Mainly because this is how religion should be handled IMO. She did not realize this was happening. They absolutely do not. That is literally how she said it. Maybe it will help. I traded food that tastes good for self-righteousness and gas. :D, I swear I dont do this (but yes, the first rule of CrossFit is always talk about CrossFit). Any topic discussed as you describe would get on my nerves, too. I would be astonished if this didnt already exist somewhere IRL! She worked the front desk, and our clinic space was fairly small, so you could basically hear conversations happening at the desk/lobby area from anywhere in the clinic if people werent keeping their voices down. I would shut that down quickly, and then generally afterwards go right to my manager and tell him (not ask him) that a customer was proselytizing to me so I shut her down, in case a complaint came in. She was a really good friend, though, so I just inwardly rolled my eyes and put up with itas long as she stayed away from the Mormons are evil track. Im not one of those everything offends me people, but I dont want people preaching their beliefs at me. Its very reasonable for people not to want to hear about your church when were all trying to get work done. Hamentashen are soooooo gooooood. Its just a cultural habit. Talking about your personal sex life (or lack thereof) is not appropriate in the workplace. No one wants to get into a heated debate with their coworkers, especially over Zoom or the phone. And like, I dont think hearing someone proclaim that my family is in a cult of abuse and idolatry is necessarily better than hearing them say Im a godless heathen. We have the Disney movie fanatic at our office. Also we try to mark most main holidays had fairy lights & sweets for diwali, that kind of thing but its not ok to single people out in a meeting. It was a Seventh Day Adventist vs. Southern Baptist. Why does it matter, though? (I mean maybe a Christian metalhead ex-Hells Angel horror fan biker with a wicked sense of humor would wear it but really). But they dont do any of the other stuff Cersei does. I think that was being discussed in the context of a conversation with another coworker who had a young child and how to teach the child about God. I got exposed to a wide variety of flavors of Christianity, including Catholicism, without being expected to believe in anything more specific than God exists, the Bible has some important lessons, follow the golden rule, basic their-era non-specific social belief in God type stuff. I think its kind of a BEC thing. AhhhThe Watchtower! I dont know. But I would advocate a focus more on the impact on OPs concentration than on the topic, in any case. Its easy to take that really personally, but the fact is, that stuff is fairly superficial. Am I overreacting? Oh well. Today I learnt that crche is another word for a nativity scene Im European and Ive never heard the word used like that before. I dont like a lot of popular things and got endless comments by my boss (!) If it was just she happened to be heavily involved with her particular church so every question like So what did you do this weekend Cersei? Was answered with My church group and I did X! Or I helped out with my church Sunday school because the regular teach was sick. Is one thing, but it sounds like she is taking it waaaaay to far. I used to get grilled about the weekly homily at one of my first jobs (a very small family business). Something like, Hm, religious movies arent my thing. If you like interesting cinematography, you might really like that!. NOBODY likes a one-note Nancy, and its even worse when the note is something potentially controversial and exclusionary. Im Christian, but several of my work-friends are Jewish, and honestly we have really nice conversations about their holidays and whats going on at their temple (one was serving on an admin board which was entertainingly dysfunctional), and they ask me about my church activities. Yeah, I used to work with a Jehovahs Witness. Yup. update: do I need to give up an impressive business contact whos hitting on me? These feelings start to grow the minute you think about your own adult child. My family was not religious, but my parents occasionally attended church for social reasons. Its basically like saying Im Jewish. With a shout out to his god mother. You may find that occupying your mouth with something to do can help you stop talking to yourself out loud. Likedoes she have some kind of goal about talking about God all the time? FFRF will send a letter and keep OP anonymous, so that could work. Most of the staff did just that. I mean, just look at the posts here: As of the time Im writing this, there are 49 comments on the topic (ignoring the first two replies about please avoid derails). we had to spend a lot of time explaining that the ubiquity of a patently religious thing does not somehow make that thing less religious. They proselytize about crossfit to literally everyone. Wait, which of you wanted vertical blinds? And quite honestly, I think any kind of lifestyle advice would be problematic that this is religious adds an extra layer of discomfort, but if we were talking about 3am? *Love* your Mazda makes vrooms though. I kind of use being a geek as cover, in some ways. I mentioned to a colleague in a meeting that she had something on her forehead. Whether it's taking the moral high ground on something or out-maneuvering the other person in a debate/argument, you talk until you feel you have won the point. The point that not everything will be valid to you is a perfectly legitimate one; other people are under no obligation to never let slip that they attended church because it might offend you. So, here are your strategies going forward: * Be very, very blunt with like when you snapped at her. I mean, I get that its pretty weird to people. Late to this, but woof. I grew up kind of on the fringes of a lot of these groups and this lady would fit right in. I'm working.". If thats *all* it is, then no, you absolutely shouldnt respond with no religion at work, because really, thats just discussing plans no different than if shed said she was going to the basketball game or watching Netflix or whatever. Its normal, every-day stuff for most people, and their lives dont revolve around my personal issues. When adult children reject the faith, dozens of questions arise in the midst of intense emotions and doubt. LBK, you said that religion tends to have a problem with you. Im still stuck on God using that cat to get LW to pray at 3 AM. Any topic that is mildly controversial should be left out of the office. Like, the ethno-religious part really trips people up and gets hard to navigate, since Im talking partially about culture, you know? I did get one church invite but only because my co-workers daughter was singing in the choir and had a solo. Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist? He said, Northern Baptist. I said, Me, too! So we dont talk about it and we are fine, because our beliefs in what supernatural power is or isnt guiding the universe, and what does or does not happen to you in the after life, and whether or how to worship religious figures from the past are not things that we need to agree on. Set Time Limits Every Sunday morning my family and I sit in a quiet, orderly church service for over an hour. They were all die-hard soccer fans. I think they need new rules. These people are the type that are adding all work people as friends online and say love you! To people they barely know at work. I work and study at a seminary and this would be way too much even for us. Im open to friends and family about so much but I tend to not overshare at work, and am very selective of who Im friends with on Facebook (2 people total). I agree, although I was thinking the boss might interpret it as, OP just doesnt like religion. But I also think it might be easier for OP to remain factual about it if she doesnt include the topic.

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