Should You Reveal Your Atheism at Work to Coworkers & Employers?
Thursday February 28, 2008
Revealing atheism to anyone can lead to problems, but revealing atheism to employers or coworkers comes with unique problems not associated with revealing atheism to family or friends. People at work can undermine your efforts and even your professional reputation. Your superiors, managers, and bosses can deny you promotions, raises, and prevent you from getting ahead. In effect, being known as an atheist at work can negatively affect your ability to earn a living and provide for your family.
Read Article: Coming Out to Coworkers & Employers: Should You Reveal Your Atheism at Work?
Comments
I would like to comment about the summaries of the articles included on this site but can’t find a way to reach Mr. Cline.
I work in a Synagogue. They know I am an atheist. It has been made clear to me that I am an integral part of the daily operations (mostly computer related work). While I don’t share their beliefs, I really can’t complain about my job. It’s a great place to work.
Lots of good advice. The anonymity of posting on the web can lead to a false sense of security that must be guarded against. A few of my coworkers know I’m an atheist. One from China is also an atheist. He and I occasionally talk of the absurdities of religion, but always in private. Most of the time religion never comes up. But I must be more careful when expressing my opinions.
Ray, just post your comment here.
I’ve been at my job 10 years. In the engineering profession there seems to be a lot of believers despite the fact that logic and science is involved. There is one person that is overtly religious to the point that on field work days he cannot ride in the car with females and so enough vehicles must be rented to accommodate him. It’s really a pain for the project manager.
That’s the worst part really. If you ask this person what he’s doing for the weekend he always prefaces it with “god willing”. I’m thinking well I made it to work without asking if god was willing.
Everyone else, except for one guy that I knew was an atheist but left, is deer in headlights when the topic comes up. Once I made a crack about how House gives a bad reputation to atheists and it was “huh?” from 5 other people at the table.
Most people are not aware of what’s going on. Most people in my engineering firm believe in Jesus either overtly or just because it is what they were raised to do. They never think about the consequences. No one is thinking.
E
I never answered the question. I can only speak for myself. A few people know and if some one questioned me I would talk about it. I don’t think that it is a good idea to flaunt it at the moment simply because the norm is to believe and it is not PC to not believe. I don’t think it’s a good idea to risk job and career. I do however show my atheism in a subtler manner whether by hanging a cartoon in my cube that satirizes religion in my cube or by bringing a copy of Freethought Today to work to read at lunch. Anyway I think it just depends on the environment.