Especially in the public health sector. Lots of people go to labs to get their blood drawn, not just Christians.
I get annoyed with shit like this. What is so fucking hard about making a public workplace comfortable for all people?
I work in a clinic--it's owned/run by a very large, public, for-profit, secular company. Besides the thankfully no-longer-existent Monday Morning Prayer Meetings, our workplace is free of anything religious-based. There's very nice black & white photography throughout the building, and our patients LOVE THAT SHIT. They eat it up like puddin' pie. Good god do they love old photos of Philadelphia.
THat's fine. That's great. Why is that so hard to do? Sure, I get it. 99.999999999% of people are Christian (to Christians), so who gives a shit if non-Christians are offended. Or whatever? It's not even that I"m offended if I see a Christian-saying or bible verse sign somewhere. But I'll tell you what I AM am....I am...afraid...of what they would say or think, or how I would be treated differently (as a patient) were they to find out that I'm not a Christian.
What if they were to find out that I'm not heterosexual? Or Atheist? Would i be treated differently? Would that needle poke be a little less gentle, a little more prone to error than if I were known or believed to be a penis-loving friend of Jesus?
That's how we see that shit. "How will I be treated if I'm found to be different?"
Because what's the point of putting up a Christ-or-God-centric art or saying or photo if not to say to others HEY LOOK THIS IS WHAT I THINK/FEEL/BELIEVE.
It's just so gauche.
So would a sign, in that same place, that says With Atheism, All Thought Is Possible.
There are places for that. There are times for that.
As a nurse, I am reminded constantly that my patients are a "captive audience," so to speak. Especially in a hospital setting. Laying in a hospital bed with tubes running in and out doesn't really give one much choice in their location. They have no choice over the staff that tend to them. So, as a nurse, it's my job (and the job of my other medical counterparts) to make patients feel as comfortable as they can when they're in that captive setting.
Although not in a hospital setting, I still hold the view of "captive audience" regarding my patients. I smile and nod regardless what they say to me. Hate Obama? hmm. Wanna talk about 9/11? hmmm.
Just today I had a patient go on and on about an effeminate male RN he had whilst he was recently hospitalized. Even used the "limp wristed" hand movement. Oh? hmm.... and went on with what I was doing.
He's as much of a captive audience as I am, but I hold a position of power and trust and authority that he doesn't have. If I were to rip into him "Hey hey you know that's a very bigoted attitude to have" what would I have gained other than getting a reprimand from my boss, and the loss of a patient. He may have still come back to the clinic, but his TRUST in my authority (medical, not power) would be diminished. The relationship would be diminished. The ability to trust my judgement and advice would be diminished.
Same with religion. Why bring it up with patients? Or politics? It's a losing proposition for me, and it risks alienating the patient. Why work with patients if you want to make them feel uncomfortable?
Which is what that sign was---it made you, the customer, feel alienated. It made you feel uncomfortable, and it made you wonder if you'd be treated differently by your medical team.
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