Faith in the Workplace: Have A Blessed Day

There's a very interesting article in today's LA Times, "Faithful Are Carving a Niche in the Workplace," about the increasing presence of religion in the workplace. This issue has been simmering under the surface with me for some time now. A few months ago, I received an email from my financial aid rep at ODU that contained a bible quote in the signature line. While I'm sure the sender probably meant well, I still found it offensive to receive an official communication from a representative of a public university with such an overt religious reference.

For me, religion and faith are highly personal things and something to be discussed in private with people who are willing parties to such a discussion. I don't see religion as an appropriate topic for the workplace, especially if I'm speaking with someone with whom I have not established a level of intimacy to be able to talk about such highly personal things, and especially if I was acting as an official representative of a public institution. (As a side note: we go out of our way at my school--and throughout FCPS--to create a warm and welcoming environment for all of our children and their families. This means that, out of respect for the many different religions and cultures represented in our student body, we do not celebrate any religious holidays (including Christmas, Easter, Passover, Id, etc.))

I would certainly not begrudge someone the right to hold particular religious beliefs and/or practice those beliefs. But, I don't feel it's right for a person to assume that I want or need their blessings/prayers. As the Times article points out, "a tenet of evangelical Christianity is to save the unsaved — to be a 'fisher of men.'" And, at the risk of stereotyping, this is my major problem with evangelical Christian groups. It's one thing to hold strong religious beliefs and another entirely to take it upon yourself to spread the word and "save" your co-workers, or anyone else for that matter. This would seem to imply that everyone else needs saving and that our religions--and we as individuals--are somehow lacking in spirituality/faith. I find this terribly offensive, inappropriate, and a form of harassment. As is noted in the article, "There's a fine line to walk between sharing your values at work in a positive way and feeling the workplace would be better if everybody shared your values." To me, "have a blessed day" crosses that line.