Geshundheit versus Scaring off the Atheists

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"Achoo!"
"Geshundheit."

In the town where I grew up, if anybody sneezed, we said, "Bless you," or "Geshundheit," (I think it means good health in German), or "God bless you." When I got older and was living in much larger cities, I began to notice that putting religion into everyday speech seemed to make the atheists uncomfortable as if I was stomping all over their Constitutional rights by expressing my verbal acknowledgement that I hope they return to full health soon. I say, "God bless you," and they immediately think of the Spanish Inquisition and the Trail of Tears.

In recent years, I've noticed more and more that I deliberately shy away from mentioning God or religion in the setting of businesses or in public or even on FB. It's not that I'm embarrassed about my belief in God's existence per se. It's that I don't want to scare off the atheists. Sure, in a small town where pretty much everybody attends either the Catholic church or one of the many Protestant churches, a lone atheist doesn't have the need to get defensive because it's like being the only person at a basketball game who would rather be home trimming his nails. The individual just goes with the flow and accepts that everyone around him/her is on a different wavelength. S'all good.

In the larger world, especially on-line, I've gotten the impression that any mention of Jesus is taken as an attack, as if I'm encroaching and invading some untouched indigenous people with my two millennia of wiping out Native Americans with smallpox and thumb-screws or whatever. So, in the interest of not startling the "heathens" on-line, I've been watching my language. The result IMO is that I'm able to demonstrate a Christian life without being perceived that I'm forcing it down somebody's throat, and judging by the number of DA friends I have who are atheists or pagans, I'd say I'm doing all right in being faithful both to secular coexistence and to God's values.

Yet, I still get a strong twinge of shame when I'm holding back from saying, "Bless you," after hearing a sneeze. Does God hate me for not evangelizing like one of those annoying street soapbox preachers 24/7 whenever I encounter you poor, wretched, vile, unchurched heathens? (You're allowed to be offended at the previous sentence. I was using those unflattering terms to help prove my point.) After all, just because I'm quietly folding my hands before each meal when I'm at a restaurant doesn't mean I'm affecting anybody else's life. It's like I'm concealing my faith out of survival or shame when I'm probably supposed to be extolling the virtues of Jesus from the rooftops. Yet, to me it IS important in this day and age to not creep out the people who aren't already Christians. It's not really helping God if I'm getting in some Jewish customer's face and bugging out my eyes at him while stating, "Jesus loves you! Don't you love Jesus! Hmmm?!" That's not spreading the word of God. That's driving nonbelievers away.

Try searching through DA for "Christian" sometime. The amount of smug hatred towards monotheistic religious folks like me is depressing. Christians, Jews, and Muslims seem to be a minority here on DA. I dunno. I definitely get the impression that a lot of artists are convinced they were burned at the stake in a past life, y'know? As a result, I'm reluctant to say, "Bless you," after I hear someone sneeze anymore, and that's unfortunate. (Sometimes I use, "Geshundheit" because not many Americans know what it means in German, so it's kinda like cheating.)

"Achoo!"
"I acknowledge that you have sneezed, and I sincerely desire your return to better physical health. I am avoiding the use of any overt terms from organized religion so that you will not have a hissy-fit and accuse me of attempting to force my religious 'opinions' onto you in our nation which values the separation of church and state."

Sheeeeesh.
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GrayBunnyGirl's avatar
Speaking from my own experiences, this is the twisted way of thinking people have now:

The Constitution gives Atheists the right to be Atheists and Christians the right to be Christians.
It is okay for an Atheist to bash on Christians and shove their unbelief in the faces of those who don't agree.
It is not okay for Christians to bash on Atheists and shove their belief in the faces of those who don't agree.
It is okay for an Atheist to practice their unbelief, and support this right by the Constitution.
Somehow, it is not okay for Christians to practice their belief, which they also have the right to via the Constitution.

Seriously. It would be funny if it wasn't not funny. When I was still in high school, an acquaintance of mine saw me wearing a cross around my neck and asked if I was Christian. When I said yes, he proceeded to go on about how "Christians are always forcing their beliefs on others and shoving it in your face if you don't believe the same thing," that "it's annoying when they talk about Jesus or church amongst themselves", and then proceeded to tell me how wrong I was and why I was wrong and he was right, etc. So, basically, in his eyes, by wearing a cross I was somehow impinging on his rights and shoving my belief in his face, and somehow, Christians talking to other Christians about faith was them shoving their belief into his face. He also seemed to think that he wasn't impinging on my right to believe what I want, and that he had the right to harass me and said belief by repeatedly swearing at me and using Christ's name in vain, solely because he knew it bothered me. And I've had similar things happen on other occasions where an Atheist tells me he/she doesn't like Christians because "they force their belief on people"...and then they go on to try and force their beliefs on me when I haven't said anything or done anything to provoke them other than dare to mention that I won't open my work availability on Sundays because I go to church that day and because God says not to work on that day.

The real problem seems not to be that Christians are getting in peoples faces, but rather that those who aren't Christians do not want to be reminded that we are allowed/have the right to have our own faith too...not just them.