I have never heard of “seminar” having a lot of religious overtones (but I’m in North America).
(Speaking from a North American perspective) “seminar” has some negative properties if you’re trying to describe a meeting where a lot of value comes from interactions between participants:
It gives connotations of teaching and being “didactive” (getting knowledge instructed to you by an authority).
In North America, there are also unlikeable hucksters that call things “seminars” (so just borrowing the name is bad if it’s not genuinely a lecture or instruction, there can be sort of an “uncanny valley” of “bad vibes”)
I have never heard of “seminar” having a lot of religious overtones (but I’m in North America).
(Speaking from a North American perspective) “seminar” has some negative properties if you’re trying to describe a meeting where a lot of value comes from interactions between participants:
It gives connotations of teaching and being “didactive” (getting knowledge instructed to you by an authority).
In North America, there are also unlikeable hucksters that call things “seminars” (so just borrowing the name is bad if it’s not genuinely a lecture or instruction, there can be sort of an “uncanny valley” of “bad vibes”)