Depends on the situation. If I'm at a funeral at some place of worship, I take that moment to silently say goodbye to the departed. It's by no means a prayer and it's done strictly for me and has nothing to do with some omnipotent sky being.

If at some secular thing someone calls the group to pray (which if it's public is rare in my neck o' the woods), I get a bit ticked but say nothing and look around to see if anyone's out there "like me". Sometimes I'm rewarded with eyes met and rolled.

When it comes to saying grace around the table, which my uncle likes to do at family gatherings, I just watch him and listen. He thanks his god for his family and gives individual "shout outs" if you've gone through some rough stuff: this Xmas it was me, as this summer I was in the hospital for 3 weeks. His thanking his god for my surviving was heartfelt. I mean hey he's corny and sometimes long-winded and even a bit silly. BUT he's sweet & sincere & feels the genuine love and wants to let us know it, and this is how he puts it out there. Who am I to deny him that?

If it's "going through the motions" bullshit prayer yeah I roll my eyes. But when it's sincere I give it its own appreciation, even if i do feel it does nothing but make the "prayee" feel better. Let 'em have it.

I just look around. If anyone sees me, then they are doing the same thing.

My mother and siblings pray over there food , especially thanksgiving and Christmas, I just stand there with them quietly until they are done . I do the same when I have been at churches supporting my friends , just let them do there thing .

If you talk to god then that is prayer. If god talks to you then that is schizophrenia...Consider St. Paul when he was on the road to Damascus. He saw a light and heard a voice from the sky. What do you think?

I stand mute. I respect others opinions to their religious beliefs, so don't want to interrupt their ceremony by making a scene, but won't actually be participating.

Tell them its unacceptable in a polite way and that public events are secular and they can pray at private events. When i said this at a public community collegr in NC thirty years ago i was called into the chancellor's office the next day and told i was a militant Yankee atheist and my disruptions would not be tolerated. I filed a formal complaint with the dept of education. It took six months but they finally were ordered to stop. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. If u don't say or do anything u can't expect things to change.

Same thing with the national anthem, I just stand there silently, and politely wait for them to finish.

I just do everything in my power to be polite and not disruptive. If I’m asked to pray, I decline and say that it would be better to ask a believer to offer a prayer. If I’m coerced in any way, I would do what seems appropriate at the time on a sliding scale of passivity to more aggressive as needed.

Stay silent and explain why. That's what my children do when the coach used to make them say a prayer before each game. (Coach is a born again)

Sometimes I just look around at the people there

If they want me to stand and hold hands, I'm good with that.

But when a prayer starts, I keep my head up, eyes open, and look around thinking how brainwashed these people are by religion.

I sit and wait it out. Never had anyone question me, too bad. I would just say "Matthew 6,6"

Fail to participate ...

I don't do it.

I find it amusing and recite the prayers even though I know they are nonsense.I can remember most of them word for word from when I was forced to learn them in Catholic school .I could not care less because this is usually only at funerals.

I don't pray but I behave respectfully.

Ruin thier expectations. They can do what they want, but expecting me to participate without asking me is on them, not me.

The only situations I can see myself in that would cause this issue would be at a wedding or a funeral. And, I suppose I would do like I do around family. I would close my eyes and repeat...la...la...la...la...la...in my head until it was over.

I tend to be respectful of other people’s cultures, especially when on their turf. If I used someone else’s customs and/or ceremonies as a staging ground to make some pissy point, how is that different from them showing up in my doorstep with their little pamphlets? (On occasion, however, I have been known to offer an enthusiastic “booya!” during services where an “amen” is expected ...)

I stand there quietly and let everyone around me talk to their magical pals in the sky.

When in Rome do as the the Romans do.....

I like to think that most people when praying or saying grace are just sending good vibes to others or being grateful for their joys in life. It feels kind of weird and funny when they pretend Jesus is actually listening, but it is what they honestly believe and I just try not to disrespect. If it happens in a government agency or a state sponsored activity I always try to remind them of separation of church and state. If I find resistance, I remind them how they would feel if somebody decides to thank satan for all the evil in the world. That usually does it.

Wait quietly. I would like them to follow suit and be courteous and respectful to my beliefs as well

Don't and won't

I stand mute, even at thanksgiving. At funerals I escape when the religious penguins arrive. I am polite, but I don't participate. I have had arguments with a couple of persons, but I simply said "I don't believe, and I don't stop anyone, why do you care, not your business"

I offered to never come to another meal at my inlaws, but would not stop my wife and the kids from visiting. That shut a pie hole. Their food sucked except for 3 things, and I can make the 1 thing they made, only better, no loss.

At Scouts I recite "the Pledge of Allegence" I never say under god, someone noticed and asked. I told the person truth, they never asked again.

At weddings I sit/stand as needed, I escape when I am allowed. I go neat clean and shaved.

By far my favorite reaction was at the local catholic churches food pantry. I had brought them maybe 3 gallons of homemade soups with lotsa good stuff. 11 homemade frozen premade ready to reheat'n'eat chicken cutlets stuffed with ham and cheeses and fresh herbs in wine sauce.

The director said I haven't seen you at church, I replied and you never will unless it is the hatch the match or the dispatch and I am in the box..

I got a stare, then why. I said I don't believe in god, not the way you do. Then they were twice as curious. I said 12 years catlick school a wife and families that believe. Doing a good deed is not just for religious people or boy scouts. Humanists do it as well. We just don't expect eternal rewards. A just and civil society will do.

Now there were 3-4 other people there, they all said nothing, but they sure loved my soups, and the director would grab me on occasion and she would beg me to make stuff. I stopped doing it for reasons not connected to that.