Ask HN: How do you deal with religious references at work? I work on a team where one of the members often references their religions writings and teachings - how do you deal with that on a team mostly made up of atheists and agnostics? I respect their ability to believe what they want, but I don't agree with the teachings themself and have no interest in reading their writings. |
If they're actively proselytizing to you and making you miserable in the process, that's probably something you could pursue with your employer depending on your jurisdiction. in the USA, your employer has a duty to maintain a non-hostile work environment regarding protected grounds. Religious belief, or non-belief, is one of those grounds. A bunch of evangelicals busily preaching to the only Jew in the office (or whatever) is basically the textbook example of what not to do.
I'm reminded of one of Tim Pool's stories from back when he was into skateboarding, where he goes to his friend's house, and there's a picture of Jesus on the wall. Tim says "Why do you have Jesus on the wall? Isn't religion kind of lame?" His friend said "I thought stories about a guy going around helping people was kind of cool." The conclusion being: aren't we supposed to be going around and helping each other out?
Unless someone is actively trying to get you to join something ...
From an atheist perspective religion is just another form of ideology and there is plenty of that going around. 'Socially acceptable' ideologies with respect to all sorts of things are common in the workplace, we mostly just go on about our business because it's usually not hugely relevant.
The world is full if interesting things, be thankful you're not being pressed into the Russian Army or thrown in jail because you look a bit different.
Joke here: its times like these where I would ask myself, what would jesus do?