Blessed sounds to me like religion or some other form of woo. A very fast way way to kill my interest.

I think it can go either way, but I shy away as well just to be on the safe side.

The term is so common that users do not realize how arrogant their unconsidered comments can be. Our Mayor posted that the city was blessed to have missed the effects of hurricane Irma. So, what does that say for the individuals who are displaced, injured or dead? What an ass.

I often say "Bless your/his/her heart." Especially when I am being told about someone's tragedy. There just aren't very many ways to address such issues in a secular way. I can also make "Well, bless your heart!" sound like an unmistakable "Fuck you!" Not a southern girl, myself, but I've visited the south and I'm a quick study.

I use "blessed" and a whole lot of other religious terms and phrases - "blessed are we, that God hath provided such a thing", "im yirtzeh ha'shem", "inshallah" and many more - just for the hell of it. It confuses religious people and really winds up some atheists, so it's great fun.

I'm southern and I say 'Bless you' all the time. It's cultural here...and I'm okay with that.

I use the word lucky... bless doesn't bother me at all, but I think that the real word that describes my moment is lucky.

When someone sneezes, I still reflexively say 'bless you'. I can't seem to shake the habit.

A lot ov vocabulary comes from religious origins. Sometimes those words are just the most appropriate word to convey the most exact meaning a person wishes to express, even if they have no religious beliefs themselves.

I personally, I try to use words that do not have religious origins whenever I can. I don't want to inadvertently perpetuate religious context if it can be avoided.

I don't use the word blessed, but I do occasionally say "bless you" when people sneeze though not as often I used to. I heard that people would say bless you because they thought it was a way to protect the person that sneezed because sneezing supposedly stops your heart for a second. Or something like that. I don't know if that's true or not but...

I think blessed is just a common thing to say whether you are religious or not, pretty much like "oh my god" (I use that one a lot). I think non-religious people use it with more of a meaning like lucky or fortunate, rather than tying it to anything like a higher power or the supernatural.