Ask HN: How do you deal with religious references at work?

[germs12]

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.

[retrac]

Are we talking about slipping in the odd quote from the Bible? Let the atheist who has never quoted from John cast the first stone. My advice would be to just put up with it.

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.

[theandrewbailey]

Religions are supposed to help someone interact with others and the world in healthy ways. Does that seem to be the case with this individual? It doesn't matter how real religion is, or if you think it's a bunch of fairy tales.

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?

[dane-pgp]

Can't you deal with it the same way you'd deal with someone frequently referencing their favourite author or their personal blog?

[germs12]

Thank you for this suggestion. Yes, I can and it is what I have been doing. Just looking for advice before I go too far down a particular route.

[jollybean]

Be a smidge more tolerant and don't worry about it.

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.

[blinded]

I would ignore and if it bugs you that much switch teams or companies.

Joke here: its times like these where I would ask myself, what would jesus do?

[icedchai]

Unless it is impacting your work, I'd just ignore it. If it is causing an impact, mention it to your manager.

[germs12]

Thank you for the advice.

[JohnFen]

I ignore them. The comments, not the people. I keep all discussions purely professional in nature.

[superchroma]

I would ignore it, I suppose. That's pretty obnoxious, though.

[gregjor]

Politely ignore.

[joshxyz]

SMILE NOD AND AGREE