{"id":128240,"date":"2015-10-05T19:52:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-06T01:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/10\/05\/dont-tread-on-me-or-my-bacon.html"},"modified":"2015-11-11T09:33:43","modified_gmt":"2015-11-11T16:33:43","slug":"dont-tread-on-me-or-my-bacon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/10\/05\/dont-tread-on-me-or-my-bacon.html","title":{"rendered":"Don't Tread on Me (or My Bacon)"},"content":{"rendered":"

So this is a UK thing, I guess. I hope. Unfortunately, the Sunday Times<\/i> article underlying this (http:\/\/www.thesundaytimes.co.uk\/sto\/news\/uk_news\/article1615171.ece<\/a>) is mostly behind a firewall, as the Yahoo summary seems a bit too summary. But …<\/p>\n

An organization called CoExist House (http:\/\/www.coexisthouse.org.uk\/<\/a>), which seeks inter-faith harmony, seems to be behind some proposals for promoting religious harmony in the workplace. Which is fine, until "harmony" is read as "compliance with the Least Offensive Denominator". To wit, no ham sandwiches stored in the office fridge because some people are "offended" by pork products.<\/p>\n

Now, the suggestion that you might not want to stock an office lunch platter with kosher, hallal, and "ordinary" food next to each other makes a certain measure of sense. People with religious dietary restrictions might find that a bit much (ditto, I would suppose for religious-style Vegans and their alternate foods). That would seem simple politeness.<\/p>\n

But that strikes me as different from saying, "Hey, because we have an observant Jew \/ Muslim \/ Hindu \/Jain \/ Vegan working here, you can no longer keep bacon \/ ham \/ beef \/ flesh \/ animal products in the office fridge because it's disrespectful."<\/p>\n

No. Insisting on everyone abiding by your<\/i> dietary rules is disrespectful. I won't insist on you consuming what I choose to; you should not insist on restricting me to consuming what you choose to.<\/p>\n

The irony here is that the guidelines will also call for workspaces to be tolerant of religious emblems and garb amongst workers. Never mind that some religious folk might claim offense at the religious insignia of other faiths. In this instance, everyone is being called to tolerate each other's practices; in the fridge instance, everyone is being told they must conform with the practices of others.<\/p>\n

The guideline suggest that "alcohol should not be served at corporate events in case it upsets members of certain faiths." I can see arguing against alcohol because it opens up a company for liability in case of intoxication and subsequent unfortunate events. But because some might be "upset"? As long as there are what my college used to call EANABs (Equally Attractive Non-Alcoholic Beverages) available, your moral disdain for my drinking should not trump my desire to do so.<\/p>\n

A number of years ago, when I was still an observant Catholic, I happened to travel to visit a friend during Lent. It was a Friday night, and the friend and me and bunch of others went out to a nice Middle Eastern restaurant. They all had shish-kebab and lamb and this and that. I had chickpeas, because there was no fish and I was eschewing meat on Fridays for religious reasons.<\/p>\n

I was very jealous — the lamb looked great — but I would never have dreamed of insisting that we go to someplace where only fish and vegetarian dishes were available, or suggesting that people ordering beef skewers at the same table as I was at were disrespecting me and my faith. That would be absurd.<\/p>\n

If I'm serving you a meal, I'll try and ask about dietary restrictions (religious or otherwise) and respect those. If I'm eating at your house, I'll be happy to abide by the house rules. That all polite and respectful. Dictating what food can or should be stored in the office fridge based on your or others' beliefs about what food is proper — is not.<\/p>\n

(h\/t +<\/span>Marty Shaw<\/a><\/span>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n
\n<\/a>
\nHam Sandwiches And Sausage Rolls May Be Banned From Office Kitchens For Being ‘Offensive’<\/a><\/span>
\nKitchens that are shared between office workers may soon be banned from storing pork products like sausage rolls over fears that they are “offensive”. Andy Dinham, professor of faith and public policy at Goldsmiths, University of London, is writing up the guidelines that will be put forward to employers this week.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So this is a UK thing, I guess. I hope. Unfortunately, the Sunday Times article underlying this (http:\/\/www.thesundaytimes.co.uk\/sto\/news\/uk_news\/article1615171.ece) is mostly behind a firewall, as the Yahoo summary seems a bit too summary. But … An organization called CoExist House (http:\/\/www.coexisthouse.org.uk\/), which seeks inter-faith harmony, seems to be behind some proposals for promoting religious harmony in … Continue reading “Don't Tread on Me (or My Bacon)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,38,378,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts","category-food-drink","category-intolerance-persecution","category-zt-pc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":127542,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/08\/18\/dd-harmony.html","url_meta":{"origin":128240,"position":0},"title":"D&D Harmony","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 18-Aug-15 9:27pm","format":false,"excerpt":"For the encounter of your dreams.(original: http:\/\/www.d20monkey.com\/comic\/dd-harmony\/) \u00a0 View on Google+","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/201508195B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/201508195B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/201508195B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13625,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/11\/03\/john_williams_a_capella_a.html","url_meta":{"origin":128240,"position":1},"title":"John Williams, a capella and solo","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 3-Nov-08 1:43pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Various John Williams movie tunes. 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UPDATE: Opening night for the Cotton Patch Gospel at our church, with yours truly in the role of Matthew (the narrator and, so I keep...","rel":"","context":"In "Religion"","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/fe2edb4db7.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9463,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/06\/30\/bonk_bonk_on_th.html","url_meta":{"origin":128240,"position":3},"title":"“Bonk-bonk on the head! Bonk-bonk! Bonk-bonk!”","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 30-Jun-06 10:41am","format":false,"excerpt":"Ah, for the halcyon days of yore, when Man lived in harmony with nature, the ebb and flow of the seasons, bringing in the harvest , a time of the...","rel":"","context":"In "Science & Nature"","block_context":{"text":"Science & Nature","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/science"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":127951,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/09\/11\/of-anti-abortion-fliers-religious-freedom-and-copy-machines.html","url_meta":{"origin":128240,"position":4},"title":"Of anti-abortion flyers, religious freedom, and copy machines","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 11-Sep-15 5:57pm","format":false,"excerpt":"An Office Depot in Illinois is facing a possible religious freedom complaint after it refused to copy an anti-abortion flyer.http:\/\/www.startribune.com\/illinois-woman-accuses-office-depot-of-discrimination\/326705421\/'The prayer was composed by the Rev. 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It calls on God to \"Bring an end to the killing of children\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/exterior_night5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/exterior_night5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/exterior_night5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":36882,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/06\/03\/mawwiage-3.html","url_meta":{"origin":128240,"position":5},"title":"Mawwiage!","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 3-Jun-13 11:20pm","format":false,"excerpt":"While one of the big arguments for\/against gay marriage is how it will affect the institution, one of the interesting things about it is ... how it will inform us about the institution. 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