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In 2001 I was a manager overseeing a staff of 22. After
the September 11 terror strikes, I felt drawn to respond to the
president’s call for a national moment of prayer at noon a few days
after the attack.
I make no secret of being a Christian in this column, my
social life, or my work but try to be sensitive to others without
bending my own values. So before organizing a prayer I spoke to my
boss, who was Jewish.
With his approval I sent an email to my department,
expecting perhaps a dozen employees to join me. I was stunned to
see over a hundred people streaming silently across the lawn from
all directions. My email, sent about an hour earlier, had been
forwarded around the company. If anyone was troubled by it I never
heard.
Of course those were different times and, if news
reports can be believed, Americans were praying like they hadn’t in
years. At the very least our national obsession with finding
offense was temporarily set aside in the face of a common threat.
We are back to being offended now and, as noted in a
recent Los Angeles Times article, employers are again struggling
with how to accommodate the various religious beliefs of their
employees. The law requires reasonable accommodation (whatever that
means), which has largely ended overly zealous practices like
banning the wearing of small crosses or other religious symbols.
Still, the Times reports, many companies find this dangerous
territory.
I know this is true even if I don’t entirely understand
why. Being a big boy and having at least modest powers of
observation, I have known there are people who do not believe the
same things I do since I was about 4. Being offended by this is
akin to being angry at the moon for coming out at night. It’s just
a fact.
I also understand the primary reason one goes to work is
to work. Maybe it is just the former employer in me – and would
surely be a news flash to a few people I’ve worked with – but
employers hire people in order to get a good day’s work. I’ve
always tried to deliver if for no other reason than to be invited
back for another day’s work.
I don’t rule out the probability that some workplace
troubles over religion – and just about everything else – are caused
by people who do not fully understand why they were granted the
privilege of a regular paycheck in the first place. Other problems,
however, are courtesy of employers with their own hang-ups or who
have been cowed by activists who would quash religious freedom in
the name of “rights.”
Whether they call it morale, collegiality, or community,
most employers encourage some degree of camaraderie. That’s hard to
accomplish if you can’t talk about anything but work, and religion
is a big part of what many people are. Attempting to completely
sever them from it would be like asking them to leave a leg at home,
and probably about as productive.
Yet the Times article claims any religious display
“troubles many who are unaccustomed to seeing a Bible on a desk or
hearing a supervisor respond to a casual ‘How's it going?’ with an
earnest ‘I'm blessed.’” I suspect such people could benefit from
the perspective that would come from having a few real problems.
On the other hand it’s not appropriate to discuss any
non-work matter with a colleague if he or she doesn’t want to hear
it. If no one minds me saying so, better observation of the Golden
Rule would result in less offense all around.
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