The only thing that bothers me is the chaplain part. Why would they need to bring in a chaplain, and wouldn't they need a different one for every faith?

The article even says: "Employers know that most of us won't go to our human resources department or our boss with private, personal problems, but many of us will open up to trusted clergy." So why don't they just let their employees to go their clergy to handle their personal problems on their personal time?

Just as I feel that values should by taught by parents and not by schools, I feel like if you have a personal problem you should use your personal support network, not your professional (although they can obviously overlap if you make friends at work).

(First of all, let me just say that I thought the stock photo they used at the start of the article was hilarious. It looks like those three guys are worshipping a laptop.)

The problem with this article is that it skims over how employment law really comes to bear on religious practice in the workplace. Sure, the Civil Rights Act protects the practice of faith in the workplace. But people who want to practice their faith can't get extra breaks in order to do so. Everyone has to be treated the same. The article also doesn't mention how this affects small businesses. Small businesses are much less likely to be able to make accommodations than large corporations, and it is small businesses that cumulatively employ the most people in the United States.

I don't think most atheists care if someone wants to use their lunchtime or other breaktimes to practice their faith.

Has anyone here every been in a situation where faith was being practiced in your workplace in such a way that made you feel uncomfortable? It's never happened to me (and I even worked for a Jewish organization once for a couple of years!).

I don't know if I can say that I have been in a situation at work that made me uncomfortable, but this may certainly change when I move to small town Alaska where fundamental Christianity has taken a strong hold. If allowed to freely gather at special meetings, what is to prevent a Christian majority from forming a social club, now sanctioned by the employer, that will divide the staff into Christian and non-Christian? I know of one town where cliques form by what church you go to. Inevitably, this group will include a majority of the leadership and management, leading to certain bias in choosing who gets promoted or is given a raise in pay. To have religion in the workplace may work to some degree in a city and at a large corporation where many groups can find members (Christians, atheists, muslims, hindu, etc), but in small town america, we may be inviting discrimination and abuses.