something to chew for the weekend

[i_scribble]

Okay. I have noted in the past (I think) that my work environment has the occasional sprinkle of religion. Not much, and not in a hostile way-- most of it is limited to co-worker discussions about their church groups or a prayer before an office pot-luck. Most of my office is Christian. I have said that sometimes this makes an uncomfortable

Comments

[divalion]

I like to think that all us Pagans would be totally open all the time and take a stand no matter what the cost. But pragmatically, each of us has to use our best judgment-- in the end only you can decide how open you are comfortable being.

Like Del, I've worked in some seriously liberal-minded places where I could let it all hang out, as it were, and no one blinked. I really prefer those places. When in less openminded circumstances, my general rule of thumb is that I don't really talk about my spiritual beliefs, but if asked directly, I won't lie, either. For the most part, people don't ask, at least not directly. At my last job people occasionally commented on the Sekhmet pendant I wore frequently, but I usually just said, "Thank you, I'm very interested in Ancient Egyptian culture and religion," and most people never went further than that. We also had a lot of Indian consultants, many of them Hindu, and one woman one day noticed I had magnets of Ganesh, Sarasvati, and Lakshmi on my cabinet. She pointed them out and said something like that they had caught her eye because those are very popular Hindu deities, like she wasn't sure if maybe I just had them because of the art. I just smiled and said I knew, and was very fond of those gods. I'd have gladly talked with her more about it, but she seemed so surprised by that, I don't think she knew what to say. =)

I tend to be a bit aloof about it because in general I don't usually have much in common with officemates and don't care much about being buddies. When there are rare exceptions (like LR), I'll eventually come out with it, but then it's because we're friends. Mostly, I don't really care what anyone else practices, and I don't really want to talk church at work unless it's a really open atmosphere. I don't have a problem with people identifying themselves as one religion or another at work, unless they start trying to push it on me. I'm definitely opposed to being proselytized to, and I think it's completely inappropriate to have group prayers (even general ones) at work gatherings. But if someone wants to take a break to go outside and pray to Mecca, and someone else wants to say grace for themselves before lunch, and someone else puts a menorah in their cube, I'm ok with that.

But, it's easy to *say* that you want to stir the shit about inappropriate work prayer or stuff like that, and a lot harder to put your job on the line to actually do it. Which is why I tend to prefer keeping religion out of work in general.