If someone of a different faith/religious beliefs asked you to pray with them, what would you do?

It happens all the time at weddings and funerals and somebody says “Let us pray”
In such circumstances, I bow my head and maintain a respectful silence.
I do not, however, pray.

If a total stranger approached me on the street and asked me to pray, I would simply say “No Thanks”

If they called me atheist scum, I would ignore it. What else would I do? Beat them up? They are probably crazy.

I have had that happen and I told the man that I wasn’t religious and that I didn’t believe in God, but I wished him well and told him I had to go. He kept following after me and asking me to listen to him so he could change my mind. I said no thanks several times and just walked away.

The woman who approached you was just a nut job, but it had nothing to do with her being religious.

And what @Josie said : )

I have noticed that folks who are like that are always like that.

Religiosity is a component of many mental illnesses.
When I worked in a psych hospital I had a woman screaming at me yelling, ” Jesus loves you you son of a bitch!”
Don’t take it personally. The lady was off her meds.

When I was in China, I visited a lot of Buddhist shrines. I would walk in, and if I felt compelled, pray to my God, and ask Him to give guidance to the lost souls who live in the area.
I do the same thing in Texas.

Asking total stranger to pray with you for no particular reason seems kind of weird to me. It’s like staring at a stranger in an elevator or talking to a stranger in the next toilet stall. Praying is kind of a personal thing. Why on earth would you just walk up and ask a random stranger that?

You’re asking two different questions here. First, the woman, and second, about prayer.

1) the woman was out of line asking you to pray with her in the first place, and she was really out of line cursing you afterwards.

2) prayer – to me, prayer is one of the most personal things that a person can do – it’s about the person’s own means of communication with the deity or spirit or whatever of his choice. In this most personal action, you (the person being asked) has the absolute right to decline. I would have said “my relationship to Cthulu (or the god of your choice) is best served by praying alone.

That said, what I say and do is dependent on who the person is who was asking. When my grandmother (z“l) was alive, she sometimes wanted me to pray with her. I did so, not out of belief, but out of respect for her and her needs. After the death of a friend of mine, his parents wanted me to pray with them while I was at their home. That’s fine, again, because it was meaningful to the parents.

But a stranger? I can’t see any reason to pray with someone I don’t know. Look at all the door-to-door evangelists (of various faiths) who want to ‘witness’ to me….

Despite of the exotic funerals, Indian ceremonies and Jewish weddings or funerals where I was expected to wear a yarmulke and did…I never hesitated to embrace their customs out of respect for their beliefs. The only time I have ever encountered issue is where anyone could not then respect my belief to not believe in a God that resembled the one they believe in. IMHO think the 4th of July is referred to Independence day for that very reason. Let the fireworks begin!

Never a stranger, no. That in and of itself is bizarre. I have been in situations in general, however, where people ask me to pray with them and/or it’s just expected that everyone prays. In those cases, I’ll be silent, but I won’t bow my head and I won’t pray. I’m not asking or expecting anyone to feel the same way I do about it, so they shouldn’t ask or expect me to feel the way they do. It’s all about mutual respect.

Yea, what if she’s hot? I’d miss out on a chance to bless her with the love and affection the good lord graced me with.

Never been in the situation you described, would decline and go about my business. If she called me a “weirdo,” I would laugh heartily!

Quite frequently, I pray to God that He shows His majesty to them by blessing them in a way they know it had to be connected to the petition of prayer put out.

In a formal setting (wedding, service or whatever) sure, just bow your head and let them do and say whatever makes them happy. You don’t have to be rude or obnoxious, just stand quietly by and let them do their thing.

Like @josie, in situations that call for people to pray, I just bow my head and wait for the prayer to be finished and I also don’t pray.

Did you know this woman? What odd and horrible behaviour. I can’t recall anyone ever treating me badly because I’m an atheist. People have acted surprised, but nobody has attacked me. However, it doesn’t often come up in conversation.

A stranger out of the blue, in some other circumstance, for example on the street? No way. GTF away from me.

Someone I know or if I’m a guest at an event like a wedding or ceremony, or at someone’s house? I’d bow my head and pray in the way that I know how. I don’t pray too often as I’m not religious at all, but I’d probably take the opportunity then.

Where I work there are many religious people (African Americans) and whenever there is an event (I’m talking every time), nobody touches the food until they “bless the food.” So everyone bows their heads and one person recites a prayer. I go along. I may not be praying at that time but I am thankful.

I’d respectfully tell them, “Go fucketh thyself”.

If it was a stranger, as in your situation, I would politely inform them that I am not religious. It they were rude or persistent, I would begin my prayer with “O great Zeus, that holdeth the Aegis…”

I have however been asked to pray by close friends of my family, who at the time didn’t realise that I have left their church. In this situation, rather than making a scene in front of a group of people, I’ve prayed the same fake garbage I used to when I was in the church. After all, praying to a God I don’t believe in is completely harmless, considering no one outside the room can hear me.

^^ You can use that old Monty Python prayer: “Oh Lord, We beseech thee! Amen.” ^^
Short, sweet and too the point but, this may only be appropriate when you have a dead bishop on the landing.

Laugh in their face until I developed hiccups, then i’d move on coz my hiccups are very high pitched, squeeky even, almost feminine if truth be told.