Hi Green!

Thank you! All the responses I got were all so nice!

I love you guys, and I'm sure you are all right about how to handle the, "Blessed Day BS". However, my only thought is that I feel like we are, in some way, capitulating to their religiosity by going along with it. By capitulating, it is as if to say... "Yeah, yeah, yeah. OK, ... You have your neurosis, and I'll have mine!" ha, ha, ha!!!!

BTW, tell your kids I love them for their "Snicker"!!! How old are they?

Big Al

@Alw314 they’re 12&15. I agree with your point however I think people do it out of habit and not malice. As my boys are usually with me, I want to show them how to be kind even when we have different beliefs. Being in the south, it’s kinda baked into the cake.

@Green_eyes "Baked into the cake???" You are too funny!!! Well, I have a few questions for you. Do you think we Atheists should try to eliminate religion? After all, don't you think that religious differences cause a lot of anguish and suffering around the world? (9/11 is a perfect example!)

But if we Atheists and Agnostics are the antidote to a religious world, how can we best get the message across in a gentle way? I will start another post with this question!

Big Al

@Alw314 religion may be the cause of a lot of problems but as a health care professional I cannot ignore the physiological strength I can bring to some. We cannot put ourselves in a position of judge, it makes us no better than they are when they persecute others for having different beliefs... it’s not just about 9/11.. what about that idiot missionary that endangered a whole community to “spread the word”. There’s fanatics in all faiths.
We do know agnosticism is growing slowly as the world becomes a more scientific place. Will it ever go away completely.. who knows??

@Green_eyes I have "faith" that reason will prevail in the long run. That, and a good sense of humor keeps me going and somewhat sane (in this insane world).

But believe it or not, you guys, all of you on this web site, are a breath of fresh air and y'all give me renewed hope in the future of men and women everywhere.

I am a retired Telecomm Support Engineer. What do you do in the Medical Industry?

Big Al

OMG! Like a curse!?!!??

Just imagine a world where words actually had power (as if prayers really worked). And if someone said, "Have a Blessed Day" to you, that it was magical, and everything suddenly started going your way!"

Once people figured it out, everyone would be wishing (each other) to have a Blessed Day, and they would all win at Black Jack and the slot machines would soon empty!!! Las Vegas and Atlantic City would go broke! Sounds like a good plot for a feel good movie! But would such a movie encourage religiosity? I wonder.

Thanks BPB!

Big Al

@Alw314
I've a good friend who's a senior exec at Sony Pictures. I'll run this by him.

They're trying...

Ha, ha, ha! How's that working for you???

Thanks for the virtual image!!! I love it!

Big Al

RR, I suppose you kill babies just for fun too!!! Ha, ha! OMG... you are too much! (and I crack myself up!)

@Alw314 I never said I did it or that it worked for me. I just assume that it works.

Also... I have never killed a baby though I have tied misbehaving children to trees before. THAT works great though usually the mere threat is enough.

Hi Pam -

Where did you move from?

Since you are now in NC, be prepared to hear it a lot! I'm really just an easy, out-going guy who is super friendly to all stripes of people from every corner of the globe. But I have had the, "Have a Blessed Day" thrown at me so much here in both NC and SC that it has turned me into a Militant Atheist !!!

I know they mean well, but it just shows me how many people are incapable of thinking for themselves! A Blessed Day??? Really? Who is going to bless it? People are so brainwashed by their religion it gives me the creeps!

I sometimes feel it is my moral and civic duty to "push back" in a polite way, just to let them know that not everyone is brainwashed. Maybe, just maybe, it will give them pause the next time they start to say, "Have a blessed day." and continue to perpetuate the lie.

Big Al

@Alw314 I grew up in Mass and raised my family in NH. Here in NC was the first time I heard " have a blessed day", it was the asst. principal of the school I worked at when I first moved here. I was shocked as in Mass growning up in the 70's we didn't say the pledge "under one god" portion in my public school. The religious can make you crazy.

When I was in my teens, whenever JWs came to my door, I used to be polite and decline their overtures. If my Mom answered, she would slam the door in their faces as hard as she could. However, they kept coming back. Then one time, when they asked if I was christian, I said no, and they asked, why not? I said that religion is a mechanism for social control and went on to expound on my theories. Dumbfounded, they left and never came back. I learned that having confidence in one's ideas pays dividends.

@elperroloco Thanks for the story! That was fun!
Whenever I had JWs at my house I would engage them in rational arguments of all kinds, that is, if I had the time. My goal was not to convert them (as much as I would like that) but just to crack open the door to their closed minds if possible. You never know. If presented with reason often enough, they just may begin to doubt their insane beliefs and quit the church at some point in the distant future.

The last time I engaged a few on my front porch it was a beautiful spring day and I asked them if my Shitzhu dog, named "Tutu" was going to heaven. Of course they said no. And I asked, "Why not?" And they said Tutu did not have a soul. And again, I said, why not? And they said my dog does not have emotions! Obviously, they never owned a cat or a dog!!!

I think pets are all about love! They love you, and you love them back (or visa versa). I always liked the idea that all dogs go to heaven. Of course, being an atheist, I don't really believe in heaven, but it is such a nice idea because our pets are so good to us. I really did love Tutu. She was such a good dog!

R. Allan Worrell

Merry Christmas? Christmas is a Trojan horse. About a white guy. Adults tricking children. Then admitting they LIED. Only to LIE again. About another white guy. But this time it's the "truth" oh yah, by all means; Merry Christmas!

Nothing to do with religion? It's called Christ mas!

Invite the news media! Everyone will be impressed! Tell them that "Walking on water is no big deal...and then walk out on the river and come right back!" Do it on Christmas! You will make National News!!! Have someone upload it to YouTube! It will go viral!

I think it is important, particularly when we are charitable, to let the recipient know we are not doing it because we are religious. Why? It restores a person's belief in his fellow man, apart from religion. In other words, you are showing you can be good (and have compassion) without religion!!! If the recipient has half a brain, they will get the message, and you have helped to lay the foundation for all of us!

Thank you!

Big Al

I dislike when people rush to bless me after I sneeze. Do you really think you saved my life? Perhaps I truly do need a blessing. Maybe a ride, or rent. Oh you were just being polite? I feel blessed! Thank you!

Dear Books... ( I love books too!)

Steve (see his remark above) made me realize that "Have a Blessed Day" is Proselytizing!!!

I do understand that after a while it becomes a mindless pleasentry, as you said. The important word that you used is "MINDLESS". What is so bad about that? It propagates the lie. It is as if they had just said, "God is Love" or "Jesus Loves You". Would you let those go as well?

The effect is the same. It does 2 things. First, the person tries to confirm their own belief by getting you to confirm it for them, and secondly, it demonstrates how pervasive the lie is and makes it seem "Normal and Right" thereby spreading religion in the mind of the public at large.

Don't play their game! Don't let them have it. Don't tell them they are OK to believe in blessings by saying "thank you" and moving on. You are doing them no favors by letting them keep their insane belief system.

The long term effect of religion may be the end of the world. Yes, I really believe that. We may end up killing everyone because, as George Carlin said, "We all have a different imaginary friend who lives in the sky." 9/11 was a symptom. There are people who take it seriously, and we are fighting them in the Middle East.

You know what freaks me out the most? It is the terrible way that women are treated by all religions, including Christianity. But many women are like the bird in a cage who has been kept their entire lives and who are afraid to leave the cage when the door is standing wide open. We, in the West have opened that door. Take it and condemn the cage! Tell the cage masters their world view of women is shit and that you will no longer play their game. Demand they respect you for having a brain!

I am a man who loves women. But I am just beginning to realize that the women who support Trump and put him in office are like those birds who want men to be strong and to take care of them. This is a battle of Philosophies over the proper roles of men and women.

This isn't JUST politics. We are fighting women's lib all over again, and at it's heart stands 2000 year old religions which wants to put women back in the cage!

Big Al

Steve -

You are so right!

"Have a Blessed Day" IS PROSELYTIZING, whether the person saying it realizes it or not!

I try not to let it go unchallenged. Why? I think it is important that we enlightened ones, not let the religious have their neurosis and continue to spread the lie.

Imagine if instead of "Have a Blessed Day" they would say something like, "Elvis is alive!" or "Prayer really works!" or "Ghosts are Real" and expect you to repeat it. No. I won't do it! I won't play their game!

Elvis is NOT alive.... Prayer does not work.. Ghosts are not real, and you can't improve someone's day by blessing it.

Steve I know YOU don't think I am extreme, but apparently a LOT of other people on this web site do. I think they just don't like to confrontation. I think they don't want to make waves. Why? Because not getting in someone's face is easy. They say, "Just say "thank you" and walk away." That's it! Let the person go on spreading the lie.

But I would challenge everyone reading this note to try, in a nice way, to ask the Blesser to please not repeat that message. Why? It is important for them to know that not everyone shares their belief. In other words, they need to know that some of us actually take offense to it. If we say nothing, then we are complicit in what they are doing!

Thanks Steve!!! Thanks for having a brain and using it.

Big Al