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Exclusivity in Business Based on Religiosity

Where I work, my boss (the business owner), and I are both Atheists... but he comes from a background heavily rooted in Christianity. He used to work for a huge Christian bookseller, so has a lot of connections with Christian organizations and businesses. But he has since came to the way of reason... and now is stuck in a strange place, he is both gay and a business owner... but none of our Christian clients know this. He strongly believes that if ANY of them were to discover that he is either gay or an Atheist that these companies and/or organizations would promptly pull their business away from us. I find this idea disgusting.

We have to tip-toe around the subject of religion when around or talking to them... we have alter our behavior just to maintain an air of divinity... and it isn't right. When I approach these situations, I look at it like this... do I like Christianity? No. Would I be willing to work with a Christian to achieve a business goal? Absolutely. So why then is it that the reverse is so-often not to be had? I lose sleep over things like this... Xtians are SUPPOSED to be accepting, loving, forgiving and the like... but more often than not they are exclusive, spiteful, condescending and self-righteous.

So what is it then that we should do to allieviate this gobbledegook? Form Atheist/Non-theist business coalitions much as these Xtian coalitions do? Then we can exclude the overtly religious businesses and the like and only do business with whom we want? I think not. We must simply continue to endure this exclusivity and the intolerance that we're shown... because I feel that as soon as we begin to sink away into our own little rabbit hole, the rest of the world look at us more as a cult... than as a group of rational, reasonable, and accessible group of individuals.

Anyone have anymore thoughts on this subject?

Tags: Business, Christian, Exclusivity, Religiosity

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Katan on August 30, 2008 at 4:10am

That is why I said that I am Dutch, in my country people do not have to urge to ask that kind of questions and therefore my answer is typically Dutch ,I think .But what would happen if you asked them why they ask these things,did they choose your company because you are good at what you do ,or because of your advertised Faith .?

Permalink Reply by Forsaken on August 30, 2008 at 6:15pm

Well, not to be snarky, but they chose us because of the fact that they had a good experience speaking with my boss... who was once an Evangelical... who is now a gay Atheist. It can be tiresome at times dealing with the likes of these people because... in all honesty, if we asked them that question... we would lose their business. No doubt in my mind on that. People do not like to have their faith questioned and that sort of line of questioning is exactly what they would consider a faith-based line of questioning. Petty? Sure. But they'll do anything it takes to keep their little happy bubble of faith unbroken.

Permalink Reply by Zevaeros on September 14, 2008 at 12:09am

This is really a tale about how we do business with people we like and are similar to us. No doubt many of us see the Jesusfish icon on a business and shy away from it when there are other choices.

It's also a reminder of risks in business. Seems to me your best long term option is to build up a bigger customer base so that if these customers become a real problem, dropping them isn't so much an issue.

For now, I'd say give them as much professionalism as they deserve, and that's about it. Build that customer base, then if you decide in the future to drop them, you can do it without suffering as much.

If it's bothering you to do business with them now and is affecting your conscience that much, think of these two things:
1. Could we discontinue doing business with these people now? How much would it be?
2. Could you think of doing business with them as taking money/resources away from them?

Permalink Reply by Richard Smith on September 22, 2008 at 10:01am

Business is business, I totally agree!

In my opinion, bringing our own beliefs into the workplace, make us no different than christians. To me atheism is not a belief, it is a natural state of being, so we need not tell people in business related settings what we believe. It is unnecessary.

If asked, it is up to each individual to make the decision as to what they say.

Permalink Reply by Michelle on November 2, 2008 at 7:37pm

Why would an Atheist business group necessarily exclude Christian, Pagan, Muslim, Jewish or any other type of business owners? Client base is important to all of them and smart ones know that includes those ideologically different from them.
An Atheist business group, welcoming business leaders that are every belief, could lead the way of ideology networking by making it only about networking and organizing. What it can do for the business nothing more or less.
At the end of the day any business organization is about it's usefulness to the business owners involved. If a Cristian business owner can widen her client base by getting a better understanding of the growing ranks of non-believers then she would have every reason join such an alliance.