Have you ever been to a meal where the hosts want to say "grace" before you can start, in other words say a prayer. As an atheist, I would personally find it insulting that I am expected to participate in worshipping mythical beings and thank them for what I about to eat, and I would get angry that someone is expecting me to at least passively condone this practice.
From the host's point of view, they are simply expecting guests to respect their practices whether or not they are insulting to the intelligence of the guest and I find that offensive. The host is relying on the privileged position of religious practice as being beyond criticism and hence it would be considered socially improper to object.
But I do object to anyone expecting me to go along with religious practice.
Another example that can occur in workplaces is where a staff meal is restricted in the venues it can choose from because of the need to accommodate people who choose not to enter establishments where alcohol is consumed. We find good-natured people trying to be accommodating and giving into this social coercion. Some strict muslims will not themselves go into any establishment where alcohol is consumed, won't share a table with others who are drinking alcohol, and impose on themselves such strictures as to make their attendance at a works do, very difficult if not impossible. Those who give into this kind of coercion are pandering to irrationalism, allowing the irrational beliefs of an individual to direct the practice of the rational many. Our good nature, coupled with the sensitivity to offending irrational religionists, provides inadvertent support for their restricting practices.
Just as the Dawkins site urges people (especially in the US) to come OUT about atheism, this is one simple area where a rational statement can be made.
Next time a muslim says they can't go to a staff do because alcohol will be consumed, we should have the confidence to say, "it's a personal choice". If someone insists on saying prayers at a meal, we should have the courage to object and to leave the table rather than participate and invite others to do the same. We should insist that we are respected and not subjected to offence by the assumption that we will participate in irrational religious practices.
The same incidentally goes for funerals - in order to get buried in the accepted place, a graveyard, the bereaved are often inveigled into participating in christian services, almost as an additional requirement in getting someone interred. Since the ground is usually owned by the church, they can impose such restrictions - but we don't have to participate in the services, we don't have to sing the hymns, we don't have to mutter the prayers.
Coming out as an atheist means challenging these restrictions, pleasantly and politely, but firmly. Saying no to irrational practices will undoubtedly cause offence to the devout because they have lost the reason for doing what they do - perhaps many of them never knew what the reasons were. But we need to start questioning these simple passive ways in which religion is given inadvertent support, and brave the reaction which will undoubtedly follow.
