I have a friend who is REALLY religious/faithful. She knows I am an atheist and has even corrected others when they say "God Bless" to me. My view on this, which I have explained to her repeatedly, is that YOUR religion or faith is for you. If you have faith and believe a certain way, then I will respect that. If you wish me a Merry Christmas, I will say thank you out of respect for YOUR beliefs. The same with any other religious greeting. I would never make someone change their behavior because I don't believe the same way. Believe what you want or need to... there are even times when I am actually jealous of the faithful! They have a scapegoat they can dump their troubles on to! I have to just look to myself!
7
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11 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.I don't think it's important enough to care about one way or the other. I see it as just a polite greeting; and if they mean more than that by it, that's their business. I don't care.
In addition, even if I know that they are devout religious types, it's okay. While I don't necessarily agree with their belief about it, I do appreciate the sentiment behind it. They are trying to wish me well in their own way, so I take the positive intent and leave the rest.
Of course, if they start proselytizing, all bets are off. 
marga
Level 7
Mar 26, 2018
1
It all swpends on the context of the statement sometimes it seems to be a force of habit than meant as an insult. It all depends on where it comes from
Rockandroll134
Level 6
Mar 23, 2018
2
Do you return the “merry christmas” after thanking the person? I don’t and it makes people feel uncomfortable but it’s their fault they feel this way, not mine.
SergeyCornwall
Level 4
Mar 23, 2018
1
Sometimes I will, if I know they celebrate this or that. Most times I say, "same to you". I like to always be kind back, you know?
I agree with you and feel the exact same way, I respect any persons spiritual journey, What I don’t respect is hypocrisy
WilsonLopezJr
Level 4
Mar 23, 2018
1
My friend is VERY hypocritic. But at the same time, c ant see that part of herself at all. Total blinders...
I think Stephen Fry sums up the correct attitude here.
(1:30 in, since the embedding seems to be ignoring the start position.)
NicoleCadmium
Level 7
Mar 23, 2018
3
I know let's ease it back a peg. We all acknowledge that there is a large proportion of the world's population that follow a religion. Would we not also be guilty of forcing our thoughts on others if we rebuke or negatively react to religious greetings. I reply to all greetings in kind. No harm done
the8thyamger
Level 4
Mar 23, 2018
4
I feel the same way. Any way one can find strength in this awful world is perfectly acceptable by me. It's the ones that thump their Bible and feel the need to save me that need to get on somewhere. It seems the loudest ones are the ones with the most skeletons in their closets at that.
DerekFuiten
Level 4
Mar 23, 2018
5
I generally don't reply to god bless, and just reply happy holidays to the others. I'm not going to make a big deal of it unless they start trying to shove their religion down my throat.
TaraMarshall
Level 7
Mar 23, 2018
2
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