By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS Staff Writer A former employee of Prudential Insurance Company is preparing a lawsuit against the company for forcing her to participate in Buddhist religious exercises, then firing her when she complained. According to a report by World Net Daily, the woman, whose name is not being revealed until after the suit is filed, worked for Prudential Insurance Company’s southern California real estate division. Her attorney, Richard Ackerman, said that during her tenure at the company, she was given the book “Buddha: 9 to 5,” which is based on the Buddhist practice of the Eightfold Path, and told to study it before attending a manager’s seminar that was based on the book. During the seminar, she was required to attend 13-minute sessions in darkened rooms where everyone was instructed to sit in the lotus position with hands held overhead while the “om” chant was performed. Afterward, those who felt uncomfortable with the exercise were asked to stand up and explain. His client, who is the wife of a local evangelical pastor, stood up and complained about it. "Basically what they did was make her life miserable [following her objections]," Ackerman said. Ackerman has written a letter to Prudential demanding the company stop requiring participation in the religious practices and warning that he has been retained to pursue claims of religious discrimination, "hostile environment" and harassment against his client that led to her termination. In his letter, he referred to the seminar as a “rather shocking indoctrination into Buddhist theology” that he found to be much more than just a program encouraging diversity and acceptance of other belief systems. “ . . . (I)t is certainly unusual to require employees to engage in actual prayer/meditation exercises,” he said in the letter. “Had employees been required to participate in Bible study, management-led compulsory prayer to the Holy Trinity, or other similar Christian practices, one can rest assured that complaints would be aplenty." According to his client, anyone who objected to the activities were “made to feel as though they were just not getting along with the intended program.” Participants at the seminar were also forced to participate in “Neuro-Linguistic Programming,” a popular New Age mind-control program claiming to help people change by teaching them how to program their brains. Any employees showing discomfort with these practices were “disregarded and treated as outsiders as a result of their discomfort with the infusion of religion and new age 'spirituality' into the workplace," his letter continued. “While it should have been apparent to anyone at the conference that mandating religious activity in a workplace is discriminatory, hostile, and inappropriate under California and federal law, the process went on anyway. In fact, the conduct toward my client was so shocking that she was caused to literally choke at the event and had to be rescued by a coworker.” The Buddhist indoctrination did not end at the seminar, however. According to Ackerman, Prudential CEO Steve Rogers continued to cause management meetings opened with Buddhist prayer rituals.” Last month, Ackerman’s client was terminated on “a false pretense” and decided to pursue legal action.   © All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly/Women of Grace. http://www.womenofgrace.com