I sincerely hope and desire that this will not become another atheists vs. religionists brouhaha. This is just me, trying to find ways to express myself that don’t contradict my own views.
Are there already more colorful ways to say “I’m glad X happened” or “I’m glad Y didn’t happen?” Because those are so bland and colorless as to disappear from any conversation. What are the non-theistic equivalents for Thank God, Thank Heavens, Praise the Lord, and so on, for everyday conversation?
I won’t be very surprised to find out that it doesn’t bother other atheists to say at least some of those things at least some of the time. I have certainly done so, but lately I have been censoring myself more and now I feel left without appropriate expressions of generalized gratitude or relief. Although I am not intending to thank any person or other entity, nevertheless I often want to recognize my feelings out loud. For example, neither I nor anyone else caused the sun to shine today, but I’m glad it is shining. I want to build up new verbal habits for that sort of thing, to normalize non-theistic expressions that replace the ones I mentioned above.