How do you politely say that you don't want to discuss your religious background at work?

[Alvi]

Over the years, this topic for me came over and over again. I've worked at many jobs over the years and people at work approach me and ask me what my religion is. People are very privy and I try to deflect that topic but I am growing frustrated. They assume that I am a Christian for some unknown reason and are very surprised when they find out that I am not. I live in Canada, which is a very multicultural country, and it should not be a big shock if you find out that someone doesn't celebrate Christmas or Easter.  I just don't want to discuss a topic of my religion. 

[stillafool]

When they approach you with the subject just say "I make it a practice to never discuss religion or politics."  Or, you can say "I'm not a Christian" and walk away.

Edited October 3, 2023 by stillafool

[Gaeta]

@Alvi: Hey Alvi, I had never caught on you were Canadian 🙂

So I would phrase something like Stillafool said. Say it with a smile 'I make a point of never discussing religion'. 

I think if you say something like you're not Christian that will just raise people's curiosity. 

Do you live in one of our big cities? Because yes in big cities people don't care usually but in smaller cities people are still traditional. Our country is multicultural but is your place of work multicultural?

About changing your perception of things.  I would get a huge kick at shocking people lol. When I started dating my boyfriend and people discovered he was Muslim....oh man! the shock on their face was pricelessssss!! I relished every moment!

Edited October 3, 2023 by Gaeta

[d0nnivain]

If kindness & deflection don't work try something along the lines of "that is not an appropriate topic of conversation for the workplace" and walk away from them.  You can try following up with an email threatening to report them for discrimination & harassment if they don't refrain from discussing the subject.  

[Alpacalia]

Odd. I can't recall a time when I was asked my religion. Maybe it's a regional thing?

It's kinda uncool to bring up politics or religion with folks who clearly aren't interested. You should be able to casually say, "I'm not into religion," and they should respect that and drop the topic.

[ShyViolet]

That seems very weird to me. I don't think anyone has randomly asked me "what's your religion?" in any job I've ever had.  It just doesn't come up.  If they did ask me, I would very matter-of-factly answer "I'm not religious" and leave it at that.

[spiderowl]

That is really strange.  I wonder if it's a Canadian thing or the North American continent thing.  I live in the UK and have worked for over 35 years.  In that time, I don't think anyone has ever asked me my religion.  I would find it odd if they did, unless we were specifically talking about religion in a private conversation - like a colleague (friend) might say 'I was brought up a Catholic', while talking about her childhood, then of course I might say how I was brought up.  It has just never featured in a professional capacity, although we had a Jewish guy at work who liked to share Jewish celebrations with the office and often informed us about them and brought in treats.  We were just happy to share his happiness with his religion.  Other colleagues have had to fast during Ramadan, and I felt sorry for them, but we already knew they were muslim because they didn't drink alcohol and talked about going to the mosque.  It was never a problem.