I would say that a certain level of compromise is required in any relationship. And while the degree of it would depend on you and the value you place on your company, there is no reason to treat inconveniences of religious origin any differently than other sorts. Your friends can have all sorts of quirks and unreasonable requirements of non-religious origins and you may have to accommodate them despite the inconvenience, simply because you want to spend time with them.
For example, I hate anything cooked in mustard oil, something a few Chinese restaurants in my locality do and therefore I have a list of them to avoid. I also tend to avoid places where I have received poor service in the past. And so far, my friends have been accommodating of these requirements.
Similarly, sometimes my friends want to eat at a vegetarian, non-alcoholic, non-smoking place even though I usually prefer having non-vegetarian food outside. And when we go to a place that caters to all our needs, we can order as per our desires or religious requirements without objections from others.
However, I do draw the line when their beliefs - religious or otherwise - go from inconvenient to imposing. Once, on an outing with some of my classmates, I ordered steak - something that seemed quite offensive to some of them. They made no secret of the fact and told me that eating beef was wrong and disgusting and I should atleast not do so in their company because it makes them uncomfortable. Never the one to back away from an argument, I pointed out all the reasons why I should dismiss their arguments and ended with "as long as I'm not telling you what to eat, don't tell me what not to". Suffice to say that they never became close friends of mine - but I savored every bite of that steak.
For example, I hate anything cooked in mustard oil, something a few Chinese restaurants in my locality do and therefore I have a list of them to avoid. I also tend to avoid places where I have received poor service in the past. And so far, my friends have been accommodating of these requirements.
Similarly, sometimes my friends want to eat at a vegetarian, non-alcoholic, non-smoking place even though I usually prefer having non-vegetarian food outside. And when we go to a place that caters to all our needs, we can order as per our desires or religious requirements without objections from others.
However, I do draw the line when their beliefs - religious or otherwise - go from inconvenient to imposing. Once, on an outing with some of my classmates, I ordered steak - something that seemed quite offensive to some of them. They made no secret of the fact and told me that eating beef was wrong and disgusting and I should atleast not do so in their company because it makes them uncomfortable. Never the one to back away from an argument, I pointed out all the reasons why I should dismiss their arguments and ended with "as long as I'm not telling you what to eat, don't tell me what not to". Suffice to say that they never became close friends of mine - but I savored every bite of that steak.
