I think I might be channeling my father.

[constance]

Aside from the fiendishly capitalist and corporate Barnes and Noble, every company I've worked for in the twenty-first century has featured obligatory moments of prayer in the workplace. Before meetings, before communal meals, before "extracurricular" functions, we all bow our heads for a prayer, silent or spoken. It's the price you pay for living in the Deep South; and man, it's a high price, at times, for someone who's agnostic at a stretch and only really not an atheist because she can't be unequivocal about what fucking salsa to buy*, much less about things as intangible as deities and human souls.

I try to be polite and respectful during these moments of prayer. I bow my head and keep quiet. I don't fidget or giggle or snort in derision. But sometimes it all gets to be too much, the way it did this morning, when our most fervent Monday-morning prayer leader begged God to "impose" his "will" upon "us all." I admit that a little snort did escape me. And suddenly I'd just had enough.

I mean. When I feel invisible spirits trying to impose their wills upon me, I'll reach for my powerful antipsychotics, thanks. I spent the rest of the prayer chafing at the idea that I should be cowed into pretending that I had any desire to be imposed upon. I held my head upright. My eyes were wide open. I felt enormously relieved.

If you're a Christian, more power to you. I still respect your right to believe in whatever God your faith leads you to. But I don't want a part in your worship any more, okay? Thanks for your attention in this matter.

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* (recommendations and/or recipes are welcome!)

Comments

[dahlia-777.livejournal.com]

Seriously, obligatory prayers as in *compulsory*! O_o I've never heard of a workplace in the UK where there's even *optional* praying. I'm afraid I just could not be doing with that. I mean, I refuse to stand up for the national anthem, even. (Not that I attend functions where God Save The Queen gets played all that often, so it's not a big issue.) I really think I could not work in a place that forced religion on me. The very idea makes me queasy.

Btw did you catch the recent interview with Tony Blair (who's rumoured to be about to convert to Catholicism, incidentally) where he explained how he barely mentioned his faith while PM for fear of being thought "a nutter" by voters? Attitudes to religion are so, so different here...