thank the imaginary gods for allergies too I bet

I tend to engage believers so maybe one day one of them will say something that would restore my faith! So this morning I was in my yard when a guy driving a 1936 Pontiac (I think) stopped to ask me about my 47DeSoto that also has a flathead 6. He was on his way to church and I gave him an ear full. I'm agnostic, no god, blah blah blah. Told him when Jesus puts my finger in the hole in his arm, I'll hit my knees so fast it'll spin your head around. Hope he had fun at church!

You were being polite and there was no need to engage in a Philosophical argument at that time.

Believing that religion is myth does not mean arguing with everyone who doesn't feel the same way.

Let me offer up a different perspective. This god of theirs is a personification of the universe in total. It was/is the answer to the question "what caused that?". Now, of course, we get to subtract from that "black box" the processes that we understand - which still leaves a huge array of things beyond our present comprehension. That's their god and it's certainly a viable object for their praise. They may not know how to explain or describe what it is, but they're thankful for it. That's a good thing. For each of us that black box may be a little different. But we all have one. Some just have different terms for it.

Same way you did

How is "Yep" confrontational?

I would've said, "who dat? " then walked away...

You could ruin your day and beat your head against the wall and say something, or you could ignore her unless you won't able to sleep at night if you don't. You could say, "there is no god, " you could say "fuck god," but you're only doing it to make your self feel better about not responding. Regardless of what you say, her opinion won't change. Or, if you wanted to really make a statement, you could have said, "yeah god gave me these allergies."

If I'm not careful, I'll add 'Thank God' myself.

Old habits die hard.

Good response. I would have said yep too. And move on.

I do the same thing a lot, sometimes it's just not worth it to me to start that conversation. Most times it's a losing battle. If they are intuitive enough, they can tell by the tone in my voice that I don't agree.