Should it have been kept to themselves?

Question

A group of coworkers of mine went out to eat together yesterday and among those coworkers, one of them is an athiest, the other believes in God but doesn't associate with religion. Two other women there were Catholic, but not the preachy type. They practice thier faith but don't bestow on anyone or even talk about it. That makes four in total.

Somehow the subject came to what religion are you, and everyone made known thier association. The catholic women just said they were catholic and that's all - even when the athiest said she was atheist, the catholics just said "oh ok" and nothing further. The athiest then proceeded to talk about how people are dumb about following an illusion then how not all humans are equal - that all people who are mentally retarded are not human, but sub-humans. My catholic coworkers said absolutely nothing but were offended.

They later told me about it and I suggested they should have asked the athiest to keep her anti-religion thoughts to herself. My coworker disagrees, saying that they had a right to express themselves. That is true, but my argument is that my religious coworkers didn't make any attempt to express thier religion or offend anyone, they knew well to keep it to themselves being that there were non-religious participants at the table. What are your thoughts?

Answer 1

the atheist was a jackass i mean there's nothing wrong with having faith and honestly he sounds like hitler to me  

Answer 2

Hate to say it, but my fellow Atheist was out of line and behaved very rudely.  A person can think what he/she likes, but you should never let loose on someone like that.  I despise it when christians do it to me and I would never do it to someone.  Shame on that person.

P.S.  The R&S forum is a completely different matter though!

Answer 3

Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion.

If someone was offended, it's up to him/her to make it known, or not.

Answer 4

The subject was brought up so the door to a touchy topic was opened up.  The Catholics chose to be quiet instead of saying they were offended or offering opposing views.  I think everyone was so shocked at such an offensive position that they didn't know what to say.  I bet the atheist doesn't get asked to lunch again.

Answer 5

Religion, like toileting habits, are things that do not need to be discussed on any level---for obvious reasons.  When anyone asks me, it is simply not something I talk about.  Opens a big can of worms every single time.

If the ladies were offended and said nothing at the time, that is their problem.  Why are you wasting your time getting involved in a useless argument and asking for our opinions?

Answer 6

The atheist absolutely should have kept your mouth shut. It is OK to have whatever religious beliefs are your own. Even if that means no religious beliefs at all. And everyone else at the table was very nice in just stating their religion and not commenting, but it was uncalled for to start insulting people for having beliefs different from your own. I don't know that the Catholic ladies should have said something, but if it were me, I would have told the atheist to watch what she said about my beliefs.

Answer 7

I believe its ridicolous, nobody went on to debate about there religion, so the atheist should of kept there religious views to themselves.  

Answer 8

If the scenario was among friends, I wouldn't think too much of it.  Since it was between colleagues I think that her comments were very offensive and that she could create a hostile work environment saying things like that.

Answer 9

  Well i do not want to get into a argument about religion or with the Catholic's.  But i have been married to a Catholic for 34yrs. And all his family is Catholic.  Wonderful people.  none of them have ever push there religion on me or anyone else.  I think the athiest was wrong. and a big mouth.  

Answer 10

I'm with Taglo who answered above...

1) they are a group of co workers...so in some political way it is a work meeting..even if unintentional.

2)she should realize that no one has a right to antagonize anyone else.

yes she has a right to free speech...but free doesn't mean overtly offensive, such as calling other stupid

3) Atheists are famous for wanting to be free of others religious views inflicted upon their lives..they should give the same treatment they ask for

Answer 11

Of course the atheist should've kept his 'religious thoughts to himself.' We are all people and while we may have different faiths or we may be mentally retarded, we all deserve to be treated with the same respect as anyone else. Mentally retarded people are not 'sub-humans.' They are humans. Let's put it this way: They are like calculators that are a little mixed up. You press the 6 and you get a 3. They have all the same body parts as everyone else, they just don't function very well. I know how you would feel about the situation, but as you were not involved, it would be best not to get yourself into it. Besides, the catholic coworkers seemed to brush it off calmly, so it wouldn't make sense for you to get angry if you weren't even there. If the atheist coworker says something of the sort to you, that's a different story. You may express how you feel about his religious views in a calm way then.

-Claire ;)