I give them a moment of silence. Don't pray, but calms nerves

My family members believe in god. I've been in a similar scenario. I just pretend to pray. I know all the words, it doesn't offend anyone, it comforts them, and I'm being true to myself.

Even worse, how about if the Dr is Muslim and it is the ‘sacred’ month of Ramadan when he hasn’t eaten since sunup (blood sugar, mental faculties) !!

Thee is a lot out there on the internet about the Parkland HS shooting. A lot of "god bless the families and the parents of the victims"....comments. I finally had to post "if god had supposedly blessed the parents, their children would still be alive." So I'm an a-hole. "god bless us everyone"
said Tiny TimTiny Tim.

I think it's telling that the surgeon "never even made eye contact". Prayer is often a substitute for actually being present with people in their time of need.

This is a tough situation. On the one hand, I'd want to push back in this situation / decline the offered prayer, tell him to "go pray in secret and his all-seeing god will work with him on that basis" -- it is, after all, a command of Jesus himself. On the other hand I'd worry about throwing him off his game if he really thinks his hand is steadied by an invisible being or even if he's simply angered by the pushback. One can only hope he compartmentalizes sufficiently that he's not changing what he does during surgery based on the voices in his head.

I think the worst part of this is just assuming the family won't be or shouldn't be offended because their beliefs are different. So pretentious and impertinent! And, ironically, arrogant. Just what they usually accuse us unbelievers of: arrogance.

I have an unusual compulsion to invent captions for the illustration / painting that goes with the article. Like "Let me help you with this cut; I feel bad that I failed to prevent this malfunction in the first place, and I was on the shitter when I was asked to fix it so this surgery wouldn't be necessary."

Odd that. I had surgery a few years ago...while in a bed...pre-surgery prep and being wheeled through the corridors of the hospital on the way to the OR...I loudly cheered and thanked all of the hospital personnel along the way..."thank you all for believing in science and getting yourselves educated" "thank you, thank you". I may have made an ass of myself but they got the message and returned many "you're welcome" from them. Oh, I'm also the guy who had "pull my finger" written in sharpie on my right ass cheek for my colonoscopy. They lay you on your left side for the procedure. heh heh

Ask for a new Dr one who knows his job and doesn't rely on his invisible friend

If it's not an emergency, I'm asking for a new surgeon.
I will have lost any confidence I may have had in the individual.

I would tell the doctor that we need to postpone the surgery.
I was in the O.R. prep room once, everyone left but this one guy, so he starts to tell me how I am making a mistake by having brain surgery, and ask me if I tried prayer. He went on to tell me that he had a brain tumor and he prayed to god and how he accepted Jesus into his life, and believe it or not his tumor just magically disappeared. I thought to myself, WTF is this guy talking about, if it was my surgeon or anyone else in the O.R., I would have definitely postponed.

As someone who has worked with multiple surgeons, just know that this is not uncommon. It also sometimes happens after you are u see anesthesia. The OR team will sometimes pray prior to beginning surgery. Having witnessed this, I found it oddly like prayer before dinner...and then the cut into the turkey. Errrr...patient.

I'd be a little wary of his skill if he feels he needs to pray before an operation. I know in most cases it could just be some sort of self motivation for said doctor, but that doesn't stop it from being awkward and a little alarming. If I had to go with this doctor and no other, I'd just let him do his little prayer, have him get to work, and highly scrutinize it at that.

Crap like that almost reminds me of that stupid and vapid quote from the pope: "You pray for the hungry. Then you feed them. That's how prayer works." Nah bitch, just get to fucking work and stop throwing in useless steps!!

I would be suggesting a new surgeon. If it was ME getting the surgery, he'd be fired on the spot.

He is the doctor, I will pray with him... it won't bother me... he don't need to know I am going to exercise extreme prejudice on his body and soul if he is not successful but after praying I will let him know anyways he just traded prayers with the wrong guy. My face can turn into the face of "death" within 3.2 seconds. My flesh is hot but my hands are cold, my eyes simply stare dark at something that is not his body. His soul can feel the squeeze and my presence. It is scary even to me and as another relative walks in... I turn the charm back on and walk away smiling because the message have been received and I simply say... I will see you later doctor.

I would definitely be taken aback. Seriously?? I would say “I’m a skeptic and now you’re making me skeptical of your ability . Show me any kind of evidence that your mythical god ever intervenes?”

I would have reasearched the doctor before we even got to the operating part.

Eewwwww! Awkward as fuck!

I'd ask for a qualified surgeon because he doesn't believe in his ability to successfully complete the procedure.

I would just tell the doctor to do the surgury already

If I pray to anyone, I'm praying to the surgeon.