# Question for Atheists. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 28, 2013, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-atheists/672444 "2013-10-28T12:27:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2013, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-atheists/672444/61 "2013-10-28T23:43:17Z")
I purposefully choose the secular alternative on sneezing (“Gesundheit” instead of “God Bless You”), but otherwise I make no effort to filter my speech this way. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-atheists/672444/62 "2013-10-29T00:12:47Z")
I casually use expressions that refer to God or Jesus, and I’ll interchangeably say “Gesundheit” or bless people when they sneeze (I also capitalize “God” because it’s the name of a specific character). And I feel I can’t really swear satisfactorily if I don’t use the full range of deity names when I’m swearing. I sometimes think aloud or carry on conversations with myself, but I don’t pray. I also don’t promise to pray for other people, because I know that means something to the people who actually do believe, and I won’t be following through. I do say I’m grateful or thankful for good things, because I am - there’s just no entity I’m grateful to. And I’ve been known to say “please” when I’m hoping for something to happen (or not), but again, I’m not actually asking any specific entity for anything. I’m just hoping in a more desperate way than usual. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-atheists/672444/63 "2013-10-29T00:16:11Z")
Biblical clichés are not necessarily the same thing; they’re generally literary references, rather than prayerful expressions. If I were to say to someone, “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio”, it would not constitute a request for Shakespearean intervention. On the other hand, most of the expressions under discussion are at least the vestigial remnants of actual invocations of divinity. I generally don’t use such expressions. I was not raised atheist so much as simply being raised without a religion, and I didn’t really pick them up from the surrounding (predominantly Christian) culture. When I use “standard” harsh language at all, it tends to be scatological, but you’re about as likely to hear me using some expression from SF or fantasy, like “frell” or “j’taht”. If I use one of the theistic expressions, it’s usually going to be with humorous intent–“OMG” is pretty much always going to be attached to “WTFBBQ”. For sudden shocks and pains, words generally don’t come out at all. I tend to sort of hiss, instead, if I make any sound. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-atheists/672444/64 "2013-10-29T00:18:47Z")
> [@Pabitel](#): > > Likewise if you have used any of these “innocent” expressions in place of swearing then you are also showing your Christian indoctrination. > > Godfrey Daniels (God damn) No. That one shows my devotion to W C Fields. ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-atheists/672444/65 "2013-10-29T02:09:42Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > I purposefully choose the secular alternative on sneezing (“Gesundheit” instead of “God Bless You”), but otherwise I make no effort to filter my speech this way. I used to go with oomberoofen, but the sad realisation that there aren’t enough Wodehouse fans out there has led me to abandon it. ---
**Author:** ![Waxwinged](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c2a13f/32.png) [@Waxwinged](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waxwinged)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-atheists/672444/66 "2013-10-29T02:30:12Z")
“Thank god” is a common one for me… More of an expression of immense relief than belief in god. ---
**Author:** ![Doggo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/87869e/32.png) [@Doggo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doggo)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-atheists/672444/67 "2013-10-29T02:41:17Z")
> [@campp](#): > > I am atheist. > > I too was raised with the same exposures. I too say OMG, or “Jesus!” when startled. However, that’s about as far as I go. Those words are just burned into my vocabulary. > > I think “bless you” is a silly custom, and don’t usually participate in that. However sometimes I will mutter under my breath “Nothing happens when you die”. 😃 It’s impossible for any living person to say whether or not there is anything beyond death, so why don’t the athiests just back off and let people believe whatever they wish to! ---
**Author:** ![half-elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@half-elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/half-elf)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-atheists/672444/68 "2013-10-29T03:31:12Z")
> [@Doggo](#): > > It’s impossible for any living person to say whether or not there is anything beyond death, so why don’t the athiests just back off and let people believe whatever they wish to! Where in your quoted example (or this thread in general) did you see an atheist not letting somebody believe whatever they wish to? ETA: muttering under your breath or thinking you disagree with somebody is hardly “not letting them”. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-atheists/672444/69 "2013-10-29T05:52:00Z")
Exactly! That came from way out in right field. There is vastly more censorship in the U.S. by Christians than of Christians! ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-atheists/672444/70 "2013-10-29T05:53:23Z")
I hereby decree that anyone of any religious persuasion must hitherto not believe! Or else! ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-atheists/672444/71 "2013-10-29T06:04:20Z")
I once saw a shirt or a bumpersticker or something that said, Atheist achieving orgasm: “Oh random! Oh chance!” I was amused. ---
**Author:** ![Silvorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Silvorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silvorange)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-atheists/672444/72 "2013-10-29T07:40:01Z")
When I was Christian, I wouldn’t say anything that could have been taken as using the Lord’s name in vain. Now I can blaspheme with abandon, though I don’t around people who might be bothered by it. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-atheists/672444/73 "2013-10-29T10:12:57Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > How do they view such behaviour I wonder? Do they blurt out such things? Does it give them pause, when they do? Do they strive to remove all such references from their dialogue? I’ve slowly trained myself to not say particularly Christian blasphemy over time, and switched to the Lovecraft pantheon for all my thumb-hammering swear needs. Mostly because those are more actually meaningful blasphemies to me, being a Lovecraft fan. There’s nothing like a heartfelt “Oh, Shub-Niggurath-on-a-crutch!!” to convey my ire. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-atheists/672444/74 "2013-10-29T11:46:33Z")
I use these expressions all the time. “Jesus”, “OMG” and all the rest. I was raised in an utterly non-religious Jewish family and religion was never mentioned until I got to be 11 and my parents said something like, “OMG, the family will expect a bar mitzvah” and so I went off for two years to learn all this and never went back after the blessed event. I don’t worry at all about my expletives contradicting my beliefs. Somehow this whole discussion reminds me of my colleague who escaped from Germany to England at age 16 in 1939. On a building on London someone had painted “Fuck Hitler” and he couldn’t understand why someone was wishing a pleasurable act upon Hitler. The point of the story is that the denotation may differ profoundly from the connotation. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-atheists/672444/75 "2013-10-29T12:06:23Z")
> [@Doggo](#): > > It’s impossible for any living person to say whether or not there is anything beyond death, so why don’t the athiests just back off and let people believe whatever they wish to! Its extremely easy to say. I just said it ten times while I was typing this. But you are free to believe whatever you want. Do what you wanna Do what you will Just don’t mess up Your neighbor’s thrill ~Frank Zappa~ “The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing” ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-atheists/672444/76 "2013-10-29T12:19:59Z")
> [@Doggo](#): > > It’s impossible for any living person to say whether or not there is anything beyond death, so why don’t the athiests just back off and let people believe whatever they wish to! My wife is a theist and I never try to force her to believe what I believe. Just because we are all talking about atheism and subsequent beliefs that _can_ (although not necessarily) follow from that does not mean we are trying to force our beliefs onto other people. ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-atheists/672444/77 "2013-10-29T15:32:44Z")
I’m an atheist raised in a secular, but “culturally Christian” household. When I was a teenager, I used to say, “Jesus Christ” and I had a friend who told me it really offended her. After that, I pretty much stopped saying that, “oh my God” and similar. Not because it bothers me, but because there are other people who find it offensive. It wouldn’t occur to me to offer up a prayer to God (please God, etc.), because I wasn’t raised to think that way. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-atheists/672444/78 "2013-10-29T16:09:16Z")
> [@Doggo](#): > > It’s impossible for any living person to say whether or not there is anything beyond death, so why don’t the athiests just back off and let people believe whatever they wish to! Because religious people love to force their beliefs on others all the time ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-atheists/672444/79 "2013-10-29T16:26:02Z")
There’s a big difference between expletives, which in english are pretty much biblical and christian in origin, and praying to something or offering prayers. I do count “bless you” after a sneeze as a reflexive action, because I don’t even think about it when I say it. I say “in my thoughts” instead of ‘in my prayers’, or I just nod and smile. I don’t wish people a “blessed day” or consciously pray to anything. I do have the “please please please please don’t be/do be” thoughts about whatever I desperately want to happen that I can’t do anything to influence, but that’s just mental fluff, not directed towards anything or anyone. I’ve got too much shit on my plate to waste mental energy purging theistic statements from my vocabulary. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-atheists/672444/80 "2013-10-29T17:47:58Z")
> [@Lasciel](#): > > There’s a big difference between expletives, which in english are pretty much biblical and christian in origin, and praying to something or offering prayers. > > I do count “bless you” after a sneeze as a reflexive action, because I don’t even think about it when I say it. > > I say “in my thoughts” instead of ‘in my prayers’, or I just nod and smile. I don’t wish people a “blessed day” or consciously pray to anything. > > I do have the “please please please please don’t be/do be” thoughts about whatever I desperately want to happen that I can’t do anything to influence, but that’s just mental fluff, not directed towards anything or anyone. > > I’ve got too much shit on my plate to waste mental energy purging theistic statements from my vocabulary. you should probably move dishwashing up the priority list 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-atheists/672444.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-atheists/672444.md?page=5)