by Elsewhere 8 Replies latest jw friends
As an atheist, I do not pray, however sometimes I will go to someone's house or to a restaurant for dinner and the others at the table will hold hands and pray.
When this happens, I politely decline and abstain while they do their thing.
Is it rude for an atheist to politely decline to participate in a hand-holding group prayer, or is the act of hand-holding prayer a form of religious coercion and itself rude?
At least they didn't ask you to say the prayer.
I think you did the right thing politely declining. Now that they know your situation, they might not assume you believe.
I always hate those moments of silence...prayer should be a personal thing, not at the direction of someone else.
I always have felt that hand holding crap during a big communal prayer was creepy -- and I'm not an atheist.
I agree with both of you... however after posting about the same thing on another site (unrelated to JW's) quite a few people got VERY pissed when I mentioned that that I politely declined to pray under such circumstances.
They basically said I needed to "be polite and hold hands". I disagreed. They became very angry.
strange...
There are still a lot of backwards people out there, aren't there?
I think you did the right thing. That is pretty creepy.
Give them all a hug and a kiss as a greeting or as a friendly good-bye to let them know you are not afraid of touching them, but to insist that everyone hold hands during some kind of chant to an invisible super being of their choosing is pretty silly and downright disrespectful, and ignores common decency.
That's the way I see it.
The Oracle
I went to an Easter thingy,and ended up having a teenaged boy on either side of me.We all had to hold hands during the prayer,and I kept thinking about their sweaty pale hands...Euwww..Guess Im not a touchy feely type.
I think it's a bit rude to push handholding on others or put them on the spot like that. It's socially awkward, uncomfortable for some people. Not respectful.
It's not rude to decline unless they address the prayer to the god of your choice......
"I think we should pray to Thor today"
Just be honest and do what makes you comfortable. If you have no problem with your view causing them discomfort then go ahead. If you want to let things roll along and not have any interruption hold hands. The answer is in your hands... Grasshopper.
