Preaching in the workplace

Guess who's knocking on the office door? It's God. If Canadians decide to let him in, we may set ourselves up to become as beset by inter-religious strife as the Arabs and the Jews (no offense). According to an article in a famous magazine, the latest craze has corporate executives fighting for free expression of religiosity in the workplace. Lord help us if this "craze" succeeds.

As recounted by magazine, "Three dozen middle-aged rebels in business suits are gathered for lunch in a conference room on the top floor of a Bank building in a province ... They are floating radical ideas: Work less. Slow down. Stop multitasking. Listen to your heart ... (They represent) a counterculture bubbling up all over corporate America who want to bridge the traditional divide between spirituality and work. Historically, such folk operated below the radar, on their own or in small workplace groups where they prayed or studied the Bible. But now they are getting organized and going public to agitate for change."

"Rebels?" "Radical ideas?" It seems truly bizarre to paint these gentlemen as romantic figures in a heroic battle. There is nothing new or radical about their ideas. Today's workplace evangelists propose nothing less than a reinstitution of the repressive tactics our Founding Fathers od US fled England to avoid authoritatively imposed religiosity. Spirituality is a very personal thing. People should come to it, it should not be foisted on them.

Besides, can you imagine how incensed most of corporate America would become if people "worked less, slowed down and stopped multitasking" in the name of the Lord?

Can you imagine the competition among various sects of Christianity, Catholicism, Islam, Hinduism and so on that will want to turn the workplace into one big evangelical marketplace? Members of non-evangelical religions, such as Judaism and Buddhism, (not to mention atheists and agnostics) will be offended as co-workers proselytize them at work. Productivity will drop. Lawsuits will blossom.

Do evangelical Christian Americans really want to be interrupted by office mates who stop working and bow to Mecca several times a day? Do Jews want Buddhists burning incense in the workplace? Do Catholics want Baptists to try to convert them? Do Muslims want Wiccans praying to pagan gods at the office? On and on it might go in its florid capacity to create interoffice strife where such strife never before existed.

"Why would we want to look for God in our work?" Fortune quotes one man as asking. "The simple answer is most of us spend so much time working, it would be a shame if we couldn't find God there. A more complex answer is that there is a creative energy in work that is somehow tied to God's creative energy. If we can understand that connection, perhaps we can use it to transform the workplace into something remarkable."

There's also no end of issues that already divide us plenty on the job: turf, working conditions, employee conduct and so on. Let's not add one more very explosive element into the mix. If an evangelist comes knocking on your office door, tell him, "Thanks, but I'll see you in your spiritual community."