Q. 'Why do some atheist still use religious terms?'

A. God knows! -which speaking as an atheist means 'Nobody knows' L.O.L.

Habit. Does not necessarily mean anything.

It is ingrained in our culture. We celebrate holidays and yes many of us say OMG. I avoid "god bless you", "spiritual", "blessed", "soul". We use many words without thinking about their origins, and many have another meaning, such as holiday. But I think it is best to remove as much as we can from our language.

We grow up listening others saying --oh my god, god please help me, the good Lord....
What we saw and hear, we have learn and been, doing same.
People we are like monkeys, monkey see monkey do The power of repetition .
I am an Atheist, but because I grow up as a christian---they made me one, without ask me---
and of course was talking like them.
Hard to brake the habit, I think about say something silly, as god this, or that of course
I do not say it.
If I say it, makes me feel sorry I have said it.

I'm a medical coder and I've caught myself saying my ICD10 book and Cpt book are my bibles. As soon as the phrase comes out of my mouth, I think they are really more like a dictionary and encyclopedia. The force of habit to use those phrases is just so strong. I will usually correct myself immediately and kind of laugh to myself as the person I'm talking to makes a face at me.

Religious terms have permeated our culture and have certain meanings in certain contexts in our vernacular. Sometimes a religious term is most appropriate to make ourselves best understood in the most clear manner. If a person says "God damn it", it has a certain context and meaning where another person knows just what emotion you are feeling. To just say "Gosh Darn it" just doesn't have quite the same emphasis or context even if said under the same circumstances.

Using religious terms does is not always literal. If a person sneezes and you say "God bless you" It does not literally mean that. It is shorthand for, "I hope you are not getting sick" or "I hope you feel better soon".

Our culture evolved with religion beign a part of it, so our language reflects that, even when the religious terminology we use is no longer taken literally or by its original meaning.

If you want a better understanding of this, you shoudl look into linguistics and semantics as courses of study. I highly recommend semantics as it will teach you to recognize how advertisers manipulate you through the use of language. Religions also manipluate people usign language too, but if you are here, then that is probably not an issue for you, but recognizing salespeoel trying to manipulate you is a useful skill to pick up.

I absolutely love the concept of "soul." Without any spiritual or supernatural meaning, I think there is a "magic" to an individual mind.

Sure, the brain is a chemical and electrical machine, but the mind is layers of psychology and memory and how those things interact. As a computer programmer, I will build modules and marvel at how they interact in ways I could never have imagined, even though I wrote every line of code. I am fairly confident that for the remainder of my lifetime, our collective understanding of the mind will not reach a point to remove that shroud of mystery from our consciousness and how it all works. I don't know of any better word for the combination of memory and psychology on an electric/chemical machine with that shroud of mystery than "soul". I don't know that we need one.

“For heaven’s sake” I say it all the time.

Well, I do say Oh My God as an expletive when not cussing up a storm. I guess I'll have to change it to WTF!!

Force of habit

Most of the weekdays are named for deities. It's rather hard to avoid using them.

I try to wean myself off of them as much as possible. I say “gesundheit“ instead of “bless you” when people sneeze. I don’t know if it has any inherent religious connotations, but it translates to “(to your) health” according to google. I’m happy to say I’m mostly clear of “thank god” in favor of “thank goodness”. I still say “god damn” and “holy shit” because nothing else feels as satisfying, and blasphemy is a sin so I enjoy scandalizing the true fundies with it.

I can say "oh god" a lot.
Mostly I blaspheme, e.g. "Jesus Christ!", "Goddammit!".

Just thought of another one, taking something as 'the gospel'.

‘Blessed’ is the term I struggle with. I often feel lucky and happy so I ‘count my blessings’ but not like they come or are gifted to me by some invisible source. I am ‘blessed’ with a brain, good physical health, wonderful family, education, friends, etc. I did work for a lot of this, but have also had a lot of serendipity in my life. So blessed, but not in the religious sense. Is this possible? Others agree or not? It’s just a word / name for a feeling, after all.

I agree with Victoria's answer, particularly as to the definition of "soul". I like the romance in how it defines me as an individual.

It preys on me a little that I still fall back on so many other religion-based expressions. I've tried over the years to find alternates to them. One of the biggest (perhaps because it's used most often) is "God bless you." I tried "Gesundheit" for a while and just ignoring other people when they sneeze but both feel awkward. Really awkward.

On the other hand, my daughter, who is a life-long atheist and has never had religion in our home, (and not much out of it) uses "Jesus!" as her most emphatic interjection. Go figure.

"Ritual de lo habitual"...holy shit! Jesus fucking Christ! Bless You! Damn it! It's like a reflex. Been trying to break the habit since high school... I've never said "God Bless You" or "praise the lord" though, and every time I say damn it, my mind silently says "Janet" because I love Rocky Horror...lol

Most of us were brought up in some kind of religion and the epithets were heard in our homes, schools and among friends. They don't really mean anything except as way to express an emotion.

Not to be tactless, but I try to avoid saying things like bless you when someone sneezes, but I have said OH GOD! while climaxing after great sex. I find that to be just an idiom and not at all religious.

Its permeated culture, and plus its not like it means anything and its funny when people get offended by it.

terms cannot be religious, only their interpretation. As a traveler I adopted different religious sounding greetings to be polite in a different cultures. Do you have a suggestion for a universal greeting?

We live in a society. They are simply just terms. I've always used the term even though I've never really been religious, oh my god. For me, it's a polite way of saying that is un-effing believable. Ultimately, it's similar to when you utilize a religious label to describe who you are even though that label says more about who you aren't.

I gotta admit I catch my self saying bless you when someone sneezes. Or thank god it's Friday. Something along those lines. I'm trying to "retrain" myself to break those habits.

I understand the word spiritual used by some people, some religious, some not to represent the experience of their brain activity or what it feels like to wish or want something. Eventually it leads to a gratification of that wish by some unknown entity. Many people depend on this fantasy. They would not be able to go on without this functional delusion. I avoid challenging it. People need their defenses. In the case when the delusion leads to behavior that damages others or is expressed in a persequtory form, I work to bring some form of control over the destructive behavior but not over the religious or supportive function of the delusion. Remember you cannot reason with a person using an irrational defense. Sometimes when they feel less threatened, they are more open to reason.

Personally, I’ve just yet to grow out of it? I only came out as Atheist recently, so some religious expressions remain in my lexicon. But also, I live in South, and I’ll admit it helps me blend in to use religious terms.

Cause its more of an phrase than a literal meaning, like if i said he disappeared like a ghost, i don't believe in ghosts, but it gets the point across