Do you ever feel like coworkers are constantly itching to defend their faith against you, even though you never bring it up, and there are 20 of them and only one of you?
No (but I realize I might be in the minority). There's only 25 people at my job and they all know where I stand. Circa ten years ago there were a couple people who tried to "enlighten" me but I shut the door pretty hard by saying if your god does exist, he's kind of a dick, and I want nothing to do with him/it
All my co-workers are athiest or non-religious.
Do you work for agnostic.com?
Lucky you!
Constantly....but then, I teach at a Jewish high school!
I think almost all believers have doubts which the try to stuff deep down inside them where they won't be bothered by them. Then, when an atheist comes along, they re afraid of their own doubts, so the go on the attack to try to keep them stuffed deep down. They re trying to keep themselves convinced as much even more than they re tryignto convince others.
In short, if they give in to their doubts, then everything they based their entire lives on will dissolve and they will geel vulnerable, because they could no longer be a part of their religious group and they are more afraid of being alone than they are of anything else.
Thays exactlt what i think is the case with a lot of church going people ive mainly dealt with people who are christian who are right there with this post
If anyone brings it up, just say "Religion is not an appropriate topic for a place of business. Thank you."
If your lack of faith is known to them then sure there can be a (sometimes not-so-subtle) undercurrent of distrust and otherization -- especially if there's nothing else for common cause to coalesce around, like a good company culture. If you're able to do so with minimal to no expectations, just keep being kind and welcoming to them and let them sit with the responsibility for being asshats, if they continue to choose that.