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Religious Pamphlets at Work

Someone (I don't know who) in the office where I work likes to leave religious pamphlets in our break room. Currently it's something about "Marriage and God's Plan". Ack!

I have some nice Atheist pamphlets I could leave out "to balance things out". I'm contemplating this, but I'm concerned about repercussions. There are a few coworkers who know about my Atheism. Some are fine with it, others not so much. Given times the way they are, I am a bit fearful of stirring things up to the point of losing my job; kind of like looking at a hornets nest with a stick in my hand. It may be funny at first, but the payback could pack quite a sting to it!

Has anyone else been in this type of circumstance?

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Comment by Mike Haynes on January 28, 2011 at 9:19am: Update:

All the pamphlet have disappeared! LOL! I walked into the break room this morning, and both the religious pamphlets and my "rebuttal" pamphlet, Fred Wanted to Ski, were gone! No office memos, no emails. They are simply gone. Here again, I have no idea who did it, but I'm glad!

Comment by Mike Haynes on January 25, 2011 at 10:51am: The result has been non-eventful so far. All of the pamphlets seem to be getting pretty much ignored for the most part, which is fine with me. I guess I just feel better for making a suitable counter-argument available.

@Becky G. LOL! I've actually done that a time or two!

Comment by Becky Garcia on January 24, 2011 at 4:06pm: I just trashed stuff like this when I found it at school. It's unprofessional, rude, and probably against the rules.

Comment by John Cameron on January 21, 2011 at 10:30am: Great compromise pamphlet. Just wish there were stronger words at the end than - God was notably absent. Still, shouldn't get you into any hot water at work and might close some open traps a little. I'll probably lay a few of these around my place of employ also.

Comment by Mike Haynes on January 21, 2011 at 10:15am: I found this pamphlet entitled Fred Wanted to Ski by Rev. Jim Huber. It tells a fictional story about a man who wanted to ski, but was afraid to, so he started preaching against it. It draws a strong parallel to the real story about the murder of Matthew Shepard and the subsequent behavior of the Westboro Baptist Clan at his funeral. It seems like a good compromise. It doesn't "proselytize" Atheism, but invites the reader to think a little bit. I'm going to place a few of them out beside the Christian ones and see if anything happens.

Comment by Lyra Silvertongue on January 20, 2011 at 9:39pm: I have never had any problems with proselytizers at work (thank FSM), but I would get such a kick out of it if I found atheist pamphlets in the breakroom. I am closeted and would be happy to discreetly drop them, but I think you are right to be concerned about starting something that might not be worth it. Let us know if anything else comes of it.

Comment by MCT on January 20, 2011 at 5:42pm: Yes! Two of my colleagues are hard-core Christians and me and another co-worker of mine love making jokes about society's current intellectual bankruptcy. They don't even have to be jokes, often comments are simply how ridiculous some religious idea is. Also, my boss and yet another colleague are Mormons. We'll all meet for meetings and I'll roll up with my car that has license plate covers that say 100% Deity Free/Good Without God. I often wonder what those who I have not talked to about it think of the blasphemy. I've tried to reason with a couple of them, but in the end, you really are looking at them and saying you are an absolute idiot to believe such juvenile irrational things. At least that's the way I see it. So, while at work, I try to minimize my condescending reason and logic. Granted, if some theist sticks their neck out, I'll let 'em have it. I think it depends on how sure you are of your standing in the company and what the effect of those in your work community would be. I think a good compromise in this situation is to simply point out what irrational ideas are being expressed, as if it's fact, in a way that you are concerned about. That way, it's you being the responsible one concerned about your work environment before they cry hate speech against their precious fairy-tale. You could tell people that the pamphlets are weird and make you feel uncomfortable. "I don't want your weird suicidal sun god telling me about marriage."