26

So I just registered to a 5 day long academic conference in my field (North America). I looked at the agenda; and there is a 15 min Opening Prayer in the schedule during the first day, and a Closing one at the end the last day. Conference size is somewhat small enough that most participants will know ~50% of the attendees.

I went to tons of conferences on 3 continents (America, Europe, Asia) and never went through this before.

I am not sure what this means in the context of an academic conference, what is the relevance, what is expected from participants. Never heard that this was happening before. Any idea as how it is now a 'thing' ?

EDIT: Aftermath: So while in the schedule it was labeled as a prayer, it was instead a short presentation by invited Indigenous Elders simply welcoming us to their lands and wishing us a great conference; felt quite sincere and personal. Note: the broad topic of the conference was indigenous related.

marsisalie
  • 536
  • 6
  • 11
  • 27
    This seems utterly bizarre to me. Is there anything peculiar about the field or the host institution that would explain this? – Arno Mar 15 '22 at 18:56
  • 3
    Is it, perhaps, a consequence of the ongoing war in Europe? – Buffy Mar 15 '22 at 18:58
  • @Amo The only thing I can think of is that it aims to be friendly and inclusive toward Indigenous people maybe? – marsisalie Mar 15 '22 at 19:00
  • @Buffy Good point - but the agenda was prepared well before the war started so it may be something else – marsisalie Mar 15 '22 at 19:20
  • 24
    In the United States, some institutions are religiously affiliated, such as Fordham, BYU, Providence College, St. John's, Yeshiva University, etc. It's possible the conference is located at such a venue. I would imagine nothing is expected of participants besides quietly observing the opening prayer (i.e., the same expectation as an 'opening statement'). – Gauss Mar 15 '22 at 19:33
  • @Gauss Interesting thoughts. I just checked and no this is just a plain, typical, public non-US University (I prefer to not be too specific) which is participating in the organization as host. I hear you - about observing. Still I have no clue why there is a prayer in a science conference main session ! – marsisalie Mar 15 '22 at 19:45
  • 3
    Is the word used literally “prayer” or is it something more generic like “invocation”? – Dawn Mar 15 '22 at 19:49
  • 1
    @Dawn it is written 'Opening Prayer' and 'Closing Prayer' in the schedule – marsisalie Mar 15 '22 at 19:50
  • Baffling… maybe someone copied an old program and didn’t edit it properly. – Dawn Mar 15 '22 at 19:52
  • 3
    @Dawn I was there during the last edition of the conference and there was no such a thing (I double checked the previous schedule in my archives to be sure) – marsisalie Mar 15 '22 at 19:55
  • 1
    You can ask the conference organizer, of course. Probably the conference chair. – Buffy Mar 15 '22 at 20:19
  • 1
    @Buffy I thought about it - not sure if I want to ask still, I would rather not come out as rude just for asking. I was looking for external advice and peers experience on Academia SE before to see if it need to be asked in the first place. Bizarre thing for sure ! – marsisalie Mar 15 '22 at 20:25
  • 2
    Are the conference organizers native English speakers (for lack of a better term)? Perhaps it's a mistranslation. – Thomas Mar 15 '22 at 21:46
  • 1
    @Thomas it is unambiguously organized by English speakers; born and raised, and/or more than fluent for sure. – marsisalie Mar 15 '22 at 21:51
  • 11
    If you do ask the organizers avoid terms like "bizarre" of course. "Unusual" or "unexpected" might serve. – Buffy Mar 15 '22 at 22:00
  • 9
    Please let us know if you find out! Mistake? Prank? Performance art? Flying spaghetti monster? The possibilities are endless. – Anonymous Physicist Mar 15 '22 at 23:14
  • 9
    @marsisalie you should feel confident that asking for more information on the prayer services is in no way rude. To the contrary, there are some who would feel that being expected to attend a prayer in a religion that isn't their own, or representing one religion over others, is rude. So I think that asking for more information in a neutral way is completely reasonable and should be expected in a situation like this. – psithurism Mar 15 '22 at 23:16
  • 1
    Is the conference at Baylor? – Buzz Mar 16 '22 at 00:42
  • @AnonymousPhysicist I will try to learn more and update for sure! – marsisalie Mar 16 '22 at 12:00
  • 1
    Hearing you @Buffy will ask as casual as possible and will not imply that it may be 'bizarre' – marsisalie Mar 16 '22 at 12:01
  • Could it be a joke? A science conference could be praying for the Flying Spaghetti Monster. That would make sense in the skeptical community, for example. – Quora Feans Mar 16 '22 at 16:46
  • 2
    @QuoraFeans I'd be really quite surprised if that joke made it into the programme (twice, with opening and closing). There are plenty of religious believers in any field, and open mockery is rare - not unknown, see for example some of Richard Dawkins' more outspoken comments - but rare. – Chris H Mar 16 '22 at 16:51
  • 1
    There are shows on TV that cover topics I don't like. I know this is pretty radical, but instead of complaining or asking "why?", I just don't watch them. Instead of making a federal case out of it, just walk in after the opening prayer is over and leave before the closing prayer. It's really not that difficult. You'd do the same if you didn't like the speaker making the opening/closing statements. If you're embarrassed to walk in late, then just tune it out. – FreeMan Mar 16 '22 at 18:29
  • 3
    The thing that I find odd is that it is supposed to be FIFTEEN minutes long! In actual church services I have attended (Protestant denominations, so maybe that's a factor?) a prayer that pushes even five minutes is considered overly long - a minute or two would be plenty. – Michael Mar 16 '22 at 18:51
  • @FreeMan part of me is inclined to agree with you, but walking out of a conference can in itself be a statement, e.g. if the chair's closing remarks switch straight into the prayer. Part of me would go further and suggest attending respectfully, especially if it's not the absolute first item on the agenda (and that's true for any religion, in fact I'd be more interested if it was a religion that wasn't part of my upbringing). OTOH in a society made up of people of many faiths and none, it seems a very strange thing to Thus the suggestion to find out more seems very reasonable. – Chris H Mar 16 '22 at 18:51
  • @Michael a very good point, suggesting something more than just a simple prayer - perhaps it's combine with some other opening/closing remarks. making it harder to just avoid the religious bit - or perhaps, somehow, there is a strange confusion after all – Chris H Mar 16 '22 at 18:53
  • I have attended several conferences organised by an association in which theologians make up the largest group, and there were no opening or closing prayers in the conference schedule. – Tsundoku Nov 06 '22 at 17:52

1 Answers1

31

I think you can be reassured by the reaction here in the comments that your confusion is a very normal response. You're almost certainly not the only attendee with questions. If you feel comfortable, I think you can certainly ask the organizers, perhaps referencing that it was not a component of a previous year - it doesn't seem rude to me at all to ask, at least not more rude than placing an undefined prayer on the schedule.

It does not seem typical anywhere in North America that an academic conference would open with a prayer. There may be exceptions with certain topics depending on the intended audience - for example, I would not find it unusual for a rabbi to speak at a conference focused on the Holocaust (and most likely give a fairly secular "prayer"). Even most private schools in the US with religious affiliations keep their academic work secular, outside of specific programs in religious studies, though you've excluded that as an explanation for this case.

Bryan Krause
  • 114,149
  • 27
  • 331
  • 420
  • I did some googling, and found hints that some conferences around the international development and aid sectors may have both religious aspects (sponsors?) and university involvement sufficient to meet the description. But it does seem very odd – Chris H Mar 16 '22 at 16:53
  • 1
    @ChrisH Yeah, in some fields I could imagine a tie-in, beyond the one example I gave. I think OP's guess that it could be an indigenous/First Nations sort of prayer also makes some sense - I know at my US institution there's been an increase in acknowledgement that the land grant that made the founding of the institution possible was dependent on land effectively stolen from tribes. That sort of prayer would likely be more cultural and touch on environmental stewardship issues that have a more secular bent than a prayer by a priest/pastor from a Christian faith. – Bryan Krause Mar 16 '22 at 17:18
  • 4
    Interesting the bias that a prayer for/by an "indigenous" religion gets a pass, but one from a Christian faith gets your hackles up. If you're offended by religion, shouldn't you be offended by all of them? – FreeMan Mar 16 '22 at 18:31
  • 8
    @FreeMan As I wrote, "that sort of prayer would likely be more cultural and touch on environmental stewardship issues". If that is what is meant here, I would not have called it a prayer, though I can understand why it would get that label. Personally, I'm offended neither by the existence of religion nor by religious people, but I am offended by religions that insert themselves forcefully into the lives of others through the power of the state or other authority. – Bryan Krause Mar 16 '22 at 18:41