A prayer before dinner

[Mermaid]

It's rude and self-serving to assert your beliefs on them. Let them pray. Ignore it. It's not about you. This situation comes up a lot in life, and that's just how it is. If they don't insist you pray with them or involve you, that's their business. That's what it takes to get along in with other people. It's hard to find another living soul who has the exact same set of values as you, and dictating what others should and should not do is why wars happen.

But it's NOT self-serving for someone to make everyone else be silent and to delay eating while they do their prayer thing.
Got it.
If it were me and I wanted to say a prayer I would do it silently and not involve others.   But that's just me.

Everything everyone does is self-serving. We do things because we want to. I didn't mean to sound so harsh in my reply, but that's how it is. You have to listen to crowd noise in the city and smell other peoples' BO and garbage and wait in line at restaurants. It might not spark joy in you, but that's what happens when you live on a planet with other people. 

They are not involving you, they're doing what they need to do. You don't have to go out to dinner with them. Prayer is part of the package though. It comes with your friends. It is up to you to decide whether it's worth it to you. 

I remember feeling resentful of this myself for a time. I came to the place I am in for my own inner peace.