Is it rude, when I continue eating while you say grace before the meal?
Or is it rude that you expect me to wait and listen when you talk to your god, while I would rather enjoy my food?
Perhaps it matters where we are. In your house we follow your rules, in my house, we follow mine?
But what do we do when we are both not at home? Whose rules do we follow then?
And goodness, what do we do if I worship a different version of your god or no god at all?
Perhaps you pray quietly, and I promise to chew the same way, and we both take it with grace?
Amen to all that!
I feel the couple that started saying grace should have let you know they intended to say it- or they should have asked the host if they minded if they said grace as it was their custom. I do not like it when people impose their religious observances on me without warning, first off I think it is rude. And as someone who does have religious observances, I would never think of imposing them on anyone else. Ok, my 2 cents!!
This is an interesting conundrum in today’s largely secular society. Another is do you drink wine when your guests are teetotallers?
I have never heard of a person who was bothered by another persons beverage of choice. That would be like a vegan being bothered by a someone who chooses to eat meat.
I wait. I don’t join in since I’m not a Christian, but I try to be respectful of other’s beliefs, and it usually is a matter of 15 seconds or so. I use the time to be grateful for the Earth’s bounty. 🙂
We went to a friends house the other day and another couple started saying Grace when I already had food in my mouth. I looked like the squirrel in the picture and I could see we all felt uncomfortable.
Oh no. That’s happened to me too. I’m always caught off guard by prayer at meals.
As usual, you’ve made me think about something I don’t normally give any thought to.
My sister and her husband are the praying kind and even though I’m well aware of that, it still catches me a bit off-guard when I’m with them. Thanks for the heads-up, I’m about to spend several days with them at their cottage.
Over the years I’ve simply learned to start eating only after my hostess has started eating. When I’m the hostess, I don’t start eating until everyone is seated and has food on their plate.
I got caught off-guard myself this week and it made me feel uncomfortable. I think it’s not so much the prayer, but the loud prayer that bothers me.
Perhaps a grace does only work when it’s said loud? How does it work anyway and why before and not after the meal -when you know if it was worth it. 🙂
LOL!! Always the pragmatist! 😀
My mom was an Atheist, but she taught me to “let the Christians pray because it’s polite.” I dunno if that’s the right way or not, but that’s just how I was raised.
Follow house rules when in a home; pray silently in public. That’s what I think. The important thing is to respect others.
I couldn’t agree more.
Have a beautiful weekend! <3
Tolerance and respect towards others is the key thing. If you have that, there’s never any embarrassing moments or awkward pauses.
That’s right and it works boths ways. 🙂