This. For the overwhelming number of people who have said this to me, it has seemed just a nice way of being pleasant, spoken through their own set of cultural beliefs. I see no reason to be upset that we do not share identical beliefs.
Telling me that I had to believe in their version of a god or be punished eternally would be offensive.
Wishing me well in their own way is hardly a reason to be upset.
And for me it is a specific attempt at proselytizing and (as it began in my area) intended to deliberately foist Christianity in an area it was specifically not supposed to be (and increase in the world in general, too, of course) and overcome the rules stealthily. Much like the Cdesign proponentsists, albeit not an official thing like that was. Very “wedge [non]document-y.” But you can’t opt out of it like you can church services or send them away like you can with door-knockers. You’re forced to accepted their religious statement or be called rule while the opposite (an atheist expressing their lack of faith daily, even if it was important to them personally) would be called rude, deliberately provocative, etc. It’s a double-standard that irks me greatly.
I help out occasionally at the memory care facility where my MIL lives. Most of the folks there can’t remember what they had for breakfast, I find the rare moments of clarity to be refreshing. A few weeks ago a piece of furniture was being delivered to a resident. After placing the item in her room, she told the delivery guy “Bless you, have a nice day”. He responded that he don’t need no blessings, there is no god. She responded “Don’t be a dick, Chester, you’re still getting blessed”. The smirk on her face was priceless. 5 minutes later she had no recollection of this happening.
So it’s dickish to deny that there is a god, but it’s not dickish to insist there is one. Got it.
The willful blindness of the Xians never ceases to amaze. Nor to offend.
Wow, after reading this thread, I’m afraid to say anything to anybody. LOL
I agree her response was rude but why should I, as an atheist, give even a fifth of a fuck if someone wants to bestow tidings and good fortune upon me from their favorite imaginary being? I understand you are different, but I personally don’t find it useful to get peeved by it, so I don’t give a shit. I say “jai sri Krishna” to Gunaratis, though I have no belief in Hinduism. I’m happy to have Allah’s name invoked on my behalf if someone so chooses. I participate in some Jewish customs like wearing a kippa in temple, or share Seder with them. I wear a head covering at Sikh ceremonies. If someone chooses to bless me in their own religion, I see no harm in that and am actually touched by it.
But I somewhat understand, as I was raised in a Catholic household, so I’m used to it, even though I’ve been an atheist for probably thirty years now.
And maybe that’s the way it should be.
I wear ear buds when I walk Simi on a local trail, yet people still approach and attempt conversation. If I respond, it involves removing the earbuds, holding up a finger (wait a minute), getting out my hearing aid case, turning on the device and inserting it, waiting for it to power up, then responding.
I usually pretend not to notice them.
ETA: you might notice I didn’t mention shutting off what I’m listening to. That’s because my earbuds are not connected to anything.
I “should be” afraid to give people a simple, friendly greeting?
You should be more aware of exactly what you are saying and to whom you are saying it.
Yeah, someone’s “simple, friendly” can annoy another person the rest of the day. Just say ‘nice’ not ‘blessed.’
Why do you assume someone wants to be greeted? Maybe read your room and greet those you know to be open to your intrusion.
While “Have a Blessed Day” is a bit annoying, I appreciate the intention of the person giving it. It’s their way of saying something very nice and not, “Can I convert you to your Lord & Savior Jesus Christ?”
My go to is “Thank you. Very much indeed.”
If you want to argue there should not be a period in the middle, Alfred Hitchcock would disagree with you.
The problem is when “living their faith” starts involving interfering with my life. Like when an evangelical church down the road decided to evangelize the neighborhood and was banging on everyone’s door from 9 am onward on Sunday morning with the “Have you heard of Jesus?” line. This really pissed off everyone working weekends and third shift, not to mention it was constant - knock after knock after knock.
Or, you know, when a customer at work loses his shit because I didn’t say “Merry Christmas” to someone else.
IF it were just a matter of a variation on the “have a nice day”/“be safe”/whatever that would be fine, but that is not the case in all times and places.
This is a bit excessive, but skipping that ‘ultimate god’ bit would make it a reasonable, non-hostile in-kind response. But it would still be seen as snarky because it is unlikely you genuinely worship Zeus.
The problem is there isn’t a simple way to push back in a gentle manner that isn’t intentionally provocative…because it must be intentionally provocative in order to make its point, unless you genuinely follow another religion. And a follower of another religion - especially the most likely ones in the US - has good reason not to a lot of the time; a muslim responding with an appropriate and genuine response may very well be calling genuinely dangerous attention to themselves. But if you skip any sort of religious mention in your response, that’s not seen as unusual or abnormal except by the most crazy. There’s no genuine response that both makes the point ‘this is an unwelcome religious intrusion’ and is gentle and natural in the way that religious greetings/farewells have become because of their ubiquity.
But it’s true, it is important to push back in some manner or another, because that assumption of the ‘default religion’ being by default included in life is problematic, because it creates a low-key environment of hostility and pervasive ‘you are not normal’ sensation to those who do not subscribe to it, while also pushing the boundaries toward religion.
The last time I “pushed back” at work, the client’s jaw dropped and he apologized, “oh my, I’m so sorry, you don’t look jewish”.
I told him I wasn’t jewish, I’m an atheist. Then his jaw nearly dislocated.
I hear it all the time, too. Almost always from African-Americans. And when it’s people I actually know , they are invariably not only religious but follow a certain type of religion, For example, I’ve never heard it from a Roman Catholic nor a Muslim - only evangelical/fundamentalist Christians. I don’t exactly get offended by it, but it tends to go along with other things that do offend me. For example, I was once at a retirement party for a Jewish coworker held in a kosher restaurant. He said a Jewish blessing over the food - absolutely fine, he was the guest of honor. Another coworker (who is a minister and a “have a blessed day” type) decides to say grace - which was fine right up until he said “in Jesus’ name”. I know he didn’t mean to be offensive but there’s a certain type of religious person that doesn’t even consider that a non-Christian might be offended by “in Jesus’ name” or “Merry Christmas” or that even a different type of Christian might be uncomfortable with a particular style of prayer at some sort of event.
[True Story]
Sitting in a conference room, three guys are yakking over coffee. . . IIRC, it was about expense reports or some other banal inanity.
Person 1: "Blah blah blah making with the yakkety yak and Doug never sent his . . . " ::aahhh aaaaaaahhh CHOOO!::
Person 2: “Whoa, God bless you!”
. . . and without skipping a beat . . .
Person 3: “I do no such thing.”
After a pause, and a couple of left-right glances, hilarity ensued.
[/True Story]
In other news . . .
“Thank you,” is still fine. Say “Have a good one,” to me, and I want to deliver a kiloton of crowd-pleasin’ thermonuclear fun on your person.
Tripler
I was Person 2.
You nailed it. Bravo!
I don’t mind that they’re trying to be nice. I mind A LOT that they think everyone in general and me in particular think highly of their particular form of collective delusion and all the harm it brings to the society I’m stuck living in.
You can’t shake their worldview without shaking their worldview. I’d like to be both polite and gentle, but with just enough oomph to leave a dent in their complacency. A friendly blessing by a diety they think is a joke seems to me the best possible mirror I can hold up to their evident belief in their joke of a diety. One can only hope they look into the mirror and see and consider their own reflection.
Fun fact: My company has decided to add a new step in " The (name of company) way" 1.Smile damn it! Smile 'till it hurts.* How can I help you? 2. Ring up their stuff 3. Try to sell them something else (I don’t do that. I figure if they want it they’ll buy it) 4. Call out total. Take money, card, whatevs, 5. Call out change and count it back if applicable. 6. Clip money into drawer if applicable. 7. SAY THANK YOU DAMN IT and smile for dog’s sake or else. Give a pleasant farewell. Now They have changed the first step to: 1. Complement the customer. What?! Really you’re shitting me. Right? No? That can be too familiar, creepy, and at times VERY difficult. I’m not doing it. Write me up. Fire me. I don’t care. It’s just damn stupid.
People that come up with this stuff have never done the job. That goes for the people that design some of the equipment we have to work with. Constant irritation for me. Grrrr
*There may have been some paraphrasing and slight hyperbole in the description of some of the steps.