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1035princess
Guest
I’m trying to figure out a way to deal with a situation I’ve encountered with a rather intolerant coworker. I work with a very religious young woman who was recently brought into our office to assist with some administrative tasks. She is very excited to share her faith with others, and at one point she gave one of our Catholic co-workers a copy of the New Testament, explaining that ‘Jesus had told her to minister’ to the co-worker. She surrounds her desk with post-it notes scribbled with prayers and little aspirations, and her locker is covered with magnets and miscellany supporting her nondenominational Protestant church. In general, she’s a pleasant person to work with.
At first I thought it was quite nice to work around such a spiritual person, but recently I’ve come to think of her less as nicely spiritual and more as an extreme bigot. On numerous occasions I’ve been present for conversations between this girl and other employees that have made me rather uncomfortable. Yesterday she was talking with our supervisor (who is a nondenominational Protestant minister) about different religions; she talked about how she had tried to read a book about Islam but she couldn’t get past the introduction because “their God is not [her] God, their God is evil and [her] God is good” and went on to declare that “her” God had given her forgiveness as a gift, something that the Catholics, Jews, and Mormons knew nothing about. Unfortunately her anti-everybody rant didn’t stop there and she went on to further spout strange and untrue information about numerous different religious groups, constantly coming back to how misinformed and wrong “those people” were.
This afternoon she stopped one of our other temporary employees, an older, Protestant gentleman, to tell him about the “crazy” things she had just read about Seventh-Day Adventists. He tried gently to suggest that maybe Adventists weren’t as “crazy” as she was suggesting, only for her to loudly rebuff him by stating, “Do you know what they believe?! If you don’t then you can’t defend them!” Although apparently not understanding their beliefs is enough to attack them… These aren’t isolated incidents; I am constantly amazed by her ignorant and increasingly rude anti-Catholic statements, and I’m horrified by her blatant hatred for non-Christian faiths.
I believe this girl would benefit greatly from some education about other religions; I have no idea where she’s getting her information now, but I’m pretty sure it’s not from a legitimate source. She doesn’t seem to have any idea what an “Abrahamic” religion is, and she looked at me blankly when I referred to her as a “Protestant.” I was thinking about trying to find her a book or something that might help increase her religious tolerance. I’m really at an impasse because I’ve never met someone so convicted to beliefs they seem to know nothing about. However I think I need to do something soon, as I will not be held responsible for my actions if she tells me one more time that I’m not a Christian because I’m Catholic, or that I wouldn’t be Catholic if I’d actually read the Bible [Note: I have read it, and that’s why I am Catholic.]
At first I thought it was quite nice to work around such a spiritual person, but recently I’ve come to think of her less as nicely spiritual and more as an extreme bigot. On numerous occasions I’ve been present for conversations between this girl and other employees that have made me rather uncomfortable. Yesterday she was talking with our supervisor (who is a nondenominational Protestant minister) about different religions; she talked about how she had tried to read a book about Islam but she couldn’t get past the introduction because “their God is not [her] God, their God is evil and [her] God is good” and went on to declare that “her” God had given her forgiveness as a gift, something that the Catholics, Jews, and Mormons knew nothing about. Unfortunately her anti-everybody rant didn’t stop there and she went on to further spout strange and untrue information about numerous different religious groups, constantly coming back to how misinformed and wrong “those people” were.
This afternoon she stopped one of our other temporary employees, an older, Protestant gentleman, to tell him about the “crazy” things she had just read about Seventh-Day Adventists. He tried gently to suggest that maybe Adventists weren’t as “crazy” as she was suggesting, only for her to loudly rebuff him by stating, “Do you know what they believe?! If you don’t then you can’t defend them!” Although apparently not understanding their beliefs is enough to attack them… These aren’t isolated incidents; I am constantly amazed by her ignorant and increasingly rude anti-Catholic statements, and I’m horrified by her blatant hatred for non-Christian faiths.
I believe this girl would benefit greatly from some education about other religions; I have no idea where she’s getting her information now, but I’m pretty sure it’s not from a legitimate source. She doesn’t seem to have any idea what an “Abrahamic” religion is, and she looked at me blankly when I referred to her as a “Protestant.” I was thinking about trying to find her a book or something that might help increase her religious tolerance. I’m really at an impasse because I’ve never met someone so convicted to beliefs they seem to know nothing about. However I think I need to do something soon, as I will not be held responsible for my actions if she tells me one more time that I’m not a Christian because I’m Catholic, or that I wouldn’t be Catholic if I’d actually read the Bible [Note: I have read it, and that’s why I am Catholic.]
if she says things like that, maybe just ask her WHY she thinks so. Don’t argue or debate, but if you’ll know why she says these things you can give her more accurate information?
Most places I’ve been employed have strict rules about religion—don’t talk about it, don’t mock someone’s religion, etc.