How do you handle religious strangers in public?
OK Atheists! I have a problem and need your help!
I live in SC and I have cashiers telling me all the time to, "Have a Blessed Day!" (It's spookie, I know!) I need to have a good comeback ready for them... What do you say when this happens to you?
Also, do you have a retort to, "Merry Christmas"? I don't really want to do battle on that one... in fact, I do get into the Xmas spirit and even decorate my house. (I like Santa, but no religious artifacts.) Shame on me! But seriously folks, I am curious about how y'all handle yourselves in public with the religiously inclined.
Thanks Guys and Gals! (Merry F'n Xmas! ha, ha)
Big Al
4
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Since interactions with sttrangers are typically figurative, or can be viewed as such, and positive in nature (from your examples,) I would pass them off as the innocuous utterances they are. In brief, I would just "Thanks," "you too," or "Happy Holidays!"
"Have a blessed day!" May be a viewed as a regional form of. "Have a good day!" Similarly, "Merry Christmas!" Can just mean "Happy Holidays!" Because these exchanges are with unimportant people in your life, why make them more important than they are? Save explaining your beliefes for duscussions with people who are important to you.
Hellas
Level 6
Dec 13, 2018
5
I just say, "Thank you" and just take it as someone saying, "have a pleasant day". I didn't hear this till I moved to NC about 5 years ago.
Pamscwf1
Level 7
Dec 13, 2018
1
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.
I just take it as a meaningless pleasantry and say 'thank you'.
Uncorrugated
Level 7
Dec 17, 2018
2
A good comeback to both “Have a blessed day” and “Merry Christmas” is “Thank you”
indirect76
Level 7
Dec 24, 2018
1
I just usually say something like, "you too!" Get my change an move on. Not really worth arguing, especially wen I just want to pay for stuff and go.
If it's someone trying to preach, then I'll get rude and cut them off and say something like, "thanks, but I'm a heathen athiest, and I don't believe in the shit you're spouting".
As far as the Merry Christmas stuff, if it's Hanukkah, I'll say Happy Hanukkah, when it was the Solstice/Yule, I say that, I'm sure it catches them off guard, but I personally find it more fun to mess with them that way than saying Happy Holidays. When Kwanzaa starts, I'll say that.
Meshy
Level 2
Dec 24, 2018
1
It is probably more sincere than the non-engaged and soulless ‘Enjoy the rest of your day’ parting gesture at McDonald’s and other retail outlets.
Geoffrey51
Level 8
Dec 26, 2018
0
I meet quite a few "religious " people daily and my response to their well wishes, which they are, is a simple thank you.. I don't need to be confrontational when theymare simply trying to be pleasent.
I am not an evangelical atheist going door to door preaching nothing.
Adinlast511
Level 1
Dec 28, 2018
0
Thy probably don't know to be mindful of this. Just carry on. It's not your job to set them straight. Unless they are being unkind there is no reason to object
LeeArtoria
Level 3
Dec 28, 2018
0
Dont feel the need battle strangers. Unless you are a law maker, if you feel the need bless me or give some other religious comment, whatever. I obviously do not say bless you for sneezes though and I get some dirty looks like how dare you let these demons invade my body! Haha
NicMick
Level 3
Jan 6, 2019
1
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!
I get "have a blessed day" sometimes, even here in So. Cal. I just say "thank you", or "you have a good day too". It's just a mindless pleasantry after all. As for "merry xmas", I say that all December long to people I know, or even think, are Xtians. I'll admit that if I think someone is saying "merry xmas" not in a spirit of innocent good will but as a way of striking a blow against the mythical "war on xmas" I'm more likely to say "thank you, and happy holidays to you as well!" I can be so bad.
BooksCatsEtc
Level 4
Feb 2, 2019
0
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
Merry Christmas I let slide. It's their holiday. But " Have a Blessed Day " is proselytizing. Proselytizing which the speaker presumes will go unchallenged because no one shall dare question the existence of the Almighty who is both able and willing to do the blessing. So, from now on, when the woman at Comcast or AT&T or whomever wherever says in closing, " Have a Blessed Day ", I'm going to respond, "And you have a damn good one !" Who amongst you shall join me ? Have a damn good day !
stevemcc
Level 3
July 13, 2019
0
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
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