Prayer Meetings
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We have a manager that holds prayer meetings in her office each day. Some of her employees join in and they pray out loud (with the door shut).
I know we have to accommodate religious beliefs; but we are concerned that other employees that chose not to pray or even be at these meetings will feel left out or not as favorable as those that do go to meetins.
We just want them to stop before anyone makes a formal complaint. We don't want any concepts that this is a religious discrimination claim.
What would you recommend?
I know we have to accommodate religious beliefs; but we are concerned that other employees that chose not to pray or even be at these meetings will feel left out or not as favorable as those that do go to meetins.
We just want them to stop before anyone makes a formal complaint. We don't want any concepts that this is a religious discrimination claim.
What would you recommend?
Comments
The pickle you get in is if you allow it for one group you have to allow it for any group.
What you do for one, you do for all.
In your situation, if these prayer meetings are being held during paid work time, I would disallow them. Again, ees do have some religious expression rights at work, but you do not (in my opinion) need to allow prayer meetings on work time any more than you allow people to hold a PTA meeting or play bridge while they're getting paid. If the prayer meetings aren't being held during working hours, I would counsel the manager as I state above.
I hope you'll keep us informed on this one!
I would address this with the manager making her understand she is creating the appearance of favoritism, as others have said. She is creating two groups or classes of people, those who participate and those who don't and those who don't will wonder if it will effect their next evaluation or raise or opportunity for promotion.
SMace's comment that if Muslim, they would have to be granted an accomodation. That in itself is unfair treatment. I'm not condemning SMace for saying it, just commenting on the fairness of established law, or the application.
I know of no requirement for prayer meetings.
It's not unfair. It is allowing people to pratice the fundamental requirements of their religion.
The Bible, on the other hand, has several verses that admonish followers of Christ to "Pray unceasingly" (1 Thess. 5:17) and to "Pray on all occasions with all kinds of requests and prayers." (Eph. 6:18)
Apparently, Muslims are also excused from paying five times a day if they have a reasonable excuse.
So I dont understandt the distinction between a Muslim who believes prayer is a fundamental part of practicing his or her religion and a Christian who believes the same way.
Your last sentence in your first post above really puts the problem in a nutshell, allowing some to have formal prayer time and not others creates a pickle.
You've decided it should bother me. Should that bother me?
edit:
To expound further, courts are not deciding what requirements are more important. They are deciding the effect of those requirements on business. Does it disrupt it or not? Muslim prayer can be done quietly on breaks. A prayer meeting can cause problems because of a variety of reasons. One of which is you must allow all religions to have meetings.
You can forbid people from holding prayer meetings in your facility.
I once worked for a bank where one supervisor held these meetings in her office. Even though they were before hours, the employees who did not want to participate felt compelled to do so because she would think of them as a "heathen" and treat them differently than the others.
We advised her to stop holding them for this reason. Of course, we were then the "heathen".
It's probably better to have these off site if employees wish to form this type of group.
As far as the Muslim question, we have Muslims working with us and none have ever asked for a religious accomodation to pray five times a day. I'm not sure what the prayer would involve except facing Mecca. It could probably be done silently and not a big deal to either employee or employer.
I don't think I'd want to get in the midst of an interdenominational or interfaith squabble in the workplace - wars have started over this type of disagreement! If you can give the accommodation without undue hardship, do it. But treat it like any other accommodation - do your research and be prepared to assess what the employee provides as evidence that the practice is required.
I hope the Manager will understand and feel this way.
That being said-employers need to be fair across the board and if an accomodation is needed (Muslim), I think there are REASONABLE ones and those that just aren't able to be accomodated due to hardships on the business, as with other areas.
I just dont understand why a voluntary prayer meeting makes people so uneasy. Furthermore, should a slight level of discomfort which is entirely subjective dictate what we allow our employees to do and not do.
Work is part of life and so is spirituality. As long as the organizational goals are not compromised, individual differences are respected, and all participation is voluntary, why not allow employees to gather for prayer if they desire?
What is so SCARY about allowing a little spirituality into the workplace assuming its not coercive or antagonistic?
I contend that spirituality and work should be kept separate, not joined together just because they're both a "part of life". And my defense is that the choice of spirituality can be affected by coercion, and because of this, people can also be antagonistic about their choices. Why would I deliberately create an environment that enables or fosters a conflict that could actually damage business?
However, I also stick by my earlier comment that even if the prayer meeting, bible study, or whatever is before or after work or at lunchtime, it's poor professional judgment for a manager to put him or herself in the position of having their ees thinking they might favor one employee's religion over another. Though attendance might be "voluntary," we also don't allow people to work overtime "voluntarily" because we can't be sure they aren't being subtly coerced.
You're correct that we cannot simply make decisions on what to allow or not allow based on the squeaky wheels of discomfort or unease.
A group of employees who wants to pray together could gather at Denny's at 7:30 a.m. before work just as easily as meeting in a conference room.
Assuming its not a group of Denny's employees..
I personally do feel uncomfortable at holiday gatherings where everyone - literally - is told to bow their heads and thank the Lord for the bountiful food and ask Jesus to bless the hands that prepared it (we do potluck) and we should all be ashamed if we're not truly thankful for what we have. We have an atheist employee who leaves the room at prayer time; I'm considering doing the same. But if I do, would it damage my supervisors' perceptions of me? "The heathen can't even stand still a few moments out of respect?" Our atheist isn't the most popular or respected employee... I can just imagine the turmoil if I were a practicing Jew or Buddhist!
You didnt come across as abrasive. I am all for passionate debate as long as it doesn't get personal. I know I can come across negatively at times when I certainly don't mean to.
Your situation is interesting. I would put that in the "coercive" category. You are being asked to participate in something involuntarily.
The comments "I'll pray for you" or "God has a plan for you" could be annoying but I wouldn't call them antagonistic unless they are repeated frequently or if you have made it clear that those kinds of comments are not welcomed.
One of my favorite verses is I Peter 3:15 "Always be prepared to give a reason for the hope you have when asked but do so with gentleness and respect."
It sounds like gentleness and respect hasn't always been your experience.
Sorry, but we do not work diligently at our jobs just to keep a job. There are more than ample amounts of employees who do just barely enough to get by but will never be shining stars. Employers will never be able to fire all those lukewarm performers as there are just too many of them. For every one that gets the axe, a dozen stay on.
As for my comment, I will admit to having just a little fun at the expense of the forum. Employers are just like everyone else wanting the best of all worlds. What employers seem to want today are "stealth Christians". Live by the Book, never lie or steal, submit to authority in the work place, do all things heartily as unto the Lord and work with all your might on whatever your hand finds to do, but never give any indication of who you are or what you believe lest you give offense to others.