I’ll admit that I do feel that people who get offended over small things do feel petty to me, and what I wasn’t sure about is how small a thing would offend. To me, this seemed like nothing more than an innocuous display card. I used it a few times a day, and never got a comment.
The problem I guess I have is that the atheists that I know personally are also extreamly forgiving and open minded. They don’t like religion or expressions of it, but they also wouldn’t blink at this card.
I’m sorry if my feeling that it’s a petty response to get offended over something like this is rude. It is how I feel, though. But I also don’t want to intentionally offend in my office, so I won’t use the card. Like I’ve said, I’m not religious. It’s not a problem for me.
Feelings in and of themselves are not rude. It’s expressing the feeling that can be rude. I’m just saying that you have to agree with their opinion, but in general it’s kind of poor form to tell someone who’s offended that they really shouldn’t be offended, especially when you went out of your way to ask for the opinion in the first place. The traditional response in that case, actually, is “Thanks for your input. It was helpful.”
And it’s rude to correct the manners of anyone other than your child or a close friend, and in even in that case you should do it discretely and, oh, say, on a public message board. So I’m ruder than you in any case.
It wouldn’t worry me in the slightest. I would no more think that you were trying to convert me to Christianity than that you were trying to convert me to baseball or the white pages.
Besides, despite my atheism–perhaps even because of it–i’ve read the Bible myself and found it very interesting. It’s just that i view it as a human, historical document rather than as the word of a/the god.
