And now time for Intense subject matter. This intense topic may upset some people with the intensity of the intenseness. Intense Viewer discression is advised.What do you say when someone sneezes? What do you say when someone blesses you?I say nothing when someone sneezes. If at all possible I continue on with the conversation. If not, in order to avoid the awkward silence, I will inquire about the sneezer’s health or if he wants allergy medicine / tissues. But I never bless.I also never thank anyone for blessing me. See above. After they know me a while, I tell them with a smile “don’t bless me — I’m an Atheist” (GRIN), and continue with conversation. I find it a handy way to get the news out.My wife gesundheits me, even though she doesn’t get it back. She says it’s reflex and she can’t stop, and gesundheit means “to your health” and is not religious. I deal with it.I’ve never been upset in any way at a person who blesses me, but it does grate on me a little when such blessings are given in quantity (winter).So let’s all chime in (theists too) and settle this once and for all.Achoo!
J?r?me:
I think your physical attack on the idiot xian was unwarranted. I do understand your frustration, but you come across as the angry atheist. The action didn’t accomplish anything positive.
Were you disciplined by your teacher or the school? If I were subbing, you’d probably be on 3 days suspension, depending on the rules at your school.
As for the 50 yrs. thing…good thought, but too pie in the sky. Leans toward cruel and unusual. Not in OUR eyes perhaps, but it isn’t up to us.
Phreedm,
You call this a lot of nothing, well, there are at least three things you maybe shouldn?t watch: laws being made, sausages being made and atheists venting 10,000 years of oppression because of the insanity of the religious.
NYD
“Public humiliation, public service or death perhaps.”
1st-would have no deterrant effect, and only serve to anger the perp., although it would warn the public.
2nd-no deterrant effect, too kid-glove. This is what you get for littering or possession.
3rd-definite deterrant effect, but would be considered cruel and unusual by too many.
Thanks for trying.
RA
The Baretta line…nice foreshadowing for Robert Blake. I always liked him, but I think he did it.
phreedumb
A lot of nothing…yet WHO stops and counts the posts?
No, the teachers don’t really care. I know it was wrong…But…No, there are no excuses. I shouldn’t have done that in any situation. Our school doesn’t really have rules, more guidlines and if you break them, they don’t do anything. Another example of our horrible public education system. Next time I will think things through before I act. I agree, most would see the fifty year sentencing as cruel and unusual, but, I say, “Do you think the molester took that into consideration before he molested the child, that it would be cruel and unusual?”
-J?r?me
Everyone have a great night and better tommorrow im outta here.
Jerome
You da man. LMAO Be careful we don’t need you getting arrested. We look forward to your posting here. It would break our hearts to know some dumb ass (who truly deserves it) got the better of you.
Violent criminals (murderers, rapists, thugs,and politicians whose lies lead to war and the death of innocent people) should be put away were they can not interact with people at all. Put them on a big farm let them have their own huts and let them take care of themselves no-one in, no-one out, Guards at the perimeter and ordered to shoot to kill.
That makes me happy, nonexistant deity (God) knows I face a really horrible school day and get back home and post here. Truly there are about two other Atheists in my school so it is nice to have an atmosphere here where the people are intelligent and understand my views (and gravity for that matter.)
-J?r?me
Living in Hell
Your school sucks in more ways than just education.
I think you should step up, impose your own punishment and apologize to the idiot.
But I’m mothering you. Think for yourself.
This is exactly my point when it comes to killers like BTK and Susan Smith. They knew what they were doing. For BTK, it was part of the thrill. As far as I’m concerned, a needle in the arm is getting off easy for the likes of them.
Jimmerone
Like your idea, but take away the huts.
I will Karen, I will. I shouldn’t do that. I also think that if the Zodiac Killer were to be brought into justice…Well we all know that that man was just killing for the heck of it. Also there is the rapist/murderer the “Original Nightstalker” that should recieve cruel punishment.
-J?r?me
I ment to say I shouldn’t do that again and I won’t.
-J?r?me
hey living in hell i used to be the same way short tempered with xtians
and prone to violence on the first day of high school a kid in my home room said we should start the day with a group prayer we started arguing and he got his ass kicked i got suspended for the first week of school after that i chilled out i never hit any one again i would just beat up a locker or a pop machine i dont recomend hitting either unless you have a high pain threshhold
any way all i am trying to say is if you feel like punching them find something else to releive your stress and anger on
I do think it is important to maintain a certain social comportment when a companion sneezes. Saying gesundheit or bless you is always meant to be polite, religious or not.
My girlfriend and I discussed this a while back and decided “Bon Chance” was a fitting response; wishing the person luck that they don’t get ill, since being sick is a real drag and may end the one life we have. I also like the idea of redefining cultural practices as an atheist and in a sense usurping them.
I personally find ‘Bless You’ irritating, but only because I have chosen to let it irritate me. I don’t think that should stop us from abandoning good manners all together. I’m no Amy Vanderbilt, but those social niceties can make big difference in our lives. Case in point, phreedm has no manners, so we dislike him.
Well, Udonman, I guess I could start to carry around a notebook since my psychiatrist says I relieve anger and stress through my writing…Wow, I just realized how insane that makes me sound, first the anger outburst and then mentioning my psychiatrist…
-J?r?me
With me, it my reaction depends on the person. If it is someone who knows I’m an atheist, I usually respond with “no thanks” or I’ll just ignore them. This may sound rude, but they are usually my coworkers saying it on purpose to annoy me. If it’s someone I don’t know very well, especially if they outrank me and are in my chain of command, I will say thank you or just smile. I don’t like to explain my atheism until after someone knows me because I want to avoid the stereotypes that theists have created about atheists in their mind. I like for people to see I’m a good person, so maybe they will change their view about atheists.
There was a time when someone asked me what they were supposed to say to an atheist when the sneezed. I told them it wasn’t necessary to say anything to me because it was just a sneeze and wasn’t a big deal.
Gesundheit = “Good health to you”
Response, “aus besser es kronkheit” (30 years out from college German) = It’s better than sickness.
No god at all.
Back to litigation…
L.I.H dont worry about mentioning a shrink i think most of us here probaly has had to deal with a shrink on more then one ocasion me it was the school district psychiatrist but she was new and i messed with her mind its a whole difernt story dont want to get into it here.
I think in your case though keep that note book handy or better yet get your self nice leather bound journl somthing to keep and I dont go around punching items any more I got into longboard skate boarding just find somthing to do that takes away the stress and anger i could make a thousand suggestions but you know yourself better find your own way
I’m a relatively new atheist and I still have problems speaking my mind.
A few weeks ago, I was at the local Books-A-Million buying some books — Who Wrote the New Testament? and Can We Trust the New Testament? The person at the counter said, to the effect, “I can answer those questions for you. The prophecies of the Old Testament show that the Bible could only have been written with God’s guidance, and the Old Testament foretells of Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection.” I just smiled and pretended to mostly agree. What the hell! That’s not at ALL what I would do on the Internet! I should have spoke up. Either feeling free to state my atheistic position, or maybe just telling him that I didn’t ask for his opinion it’s not his place to preach me. But I still feel like I would be intruding and trying to impose my beliefs on others. Yet that is EXACTLY what the employee was doing, to me. I mean, picture the scenario in reverse: a Christian brings a couple “Gee, Isn’t Jesus Wonderful” books to the counter where an atheist employee openly says, “The Bible is superstitious mythology”. The Christian would likely scream bloody murder and complain to the manager, or protest in some other way.
Another example.
Ocassionally, religous people stand at the doors of my university and hand out Gideon’s Bibles. After becoming an atheist, I had planned out in my head what I would do next time that happened: oh, it was going to be spectacular! Yet, when it did in fact happen again, I simply said “No thanks”. Wow! That really told them!
I’m disappointed in myself. I realize that expressing my beliefs – though offensive to Christians – is perfectly valid and protected by law, and is nothing that the Christians themselves aren’t doing to me. Maybe in time.
DNA,
Perhaps it’s the difference between expressing a belief and expressing a non-belief?
DNAUnion
One of the reasons I like this blog so much is because I can be open about my atheism and express myself without the frustration that bubbles up when I am in face-to-face situations with overt believers.
I have been an atheist for a long time, yet still have trouble expressing myself publicly. I tell myself not to give in to the mindset that I am “wrong” or “offensive” just because mine is the minority’s opinion.
I even have this problem at home, since my husband sees me as being militant whenever I even mention atheism or make a comment about religion. My problem is that it’s OK for the religious to talk their lungs out about it, but not us. I admired Madalyn’s O Hair’s courage in speaking out, but wish she hadn’t always been so brash.
Anyway, don’t beat yourself up. As you said, maybe in time. Meanwhile, work quietly and be a good person, a good example. That speaks volumes.
It’s great to have you on the side of reason!
Gung hee fat choi, everyone.
DNA:
I’ve mentioned this before.
Everytime someone hits me up for change/donations, I always make a point of telling them I’m an atheist.
Case in point: a polite, toothless homeless lady hit me up for change on my way into Starbucks. On the way out, I gave her my change. She says, “God bless you, sir.” I said, “I’m an atheist, don’t believe in god.”
Pick your battles. Always good advice.
RA
An atheist giving money to a theist…
God does indeed work in mysterious ways, hmmm?
It would be interesting if anyone ever refused the money after learning the doner was an atheist.
OOps. Doner should be donor. What a boner!
karen:
God? God who?
“Oolon Colluphid’s trilogy of philosophical blockbusters Where God Went Wrong, Some More of God’s Greatest Mistakes and Who is this God Person Anyway?”
Would be funny if they threw the money back.
Wouldn’t be very polite, but I could respect that.
Exactly: God Who?
It would be ironic if they threw the money back. Bite off nose; spite face.
I just figured the mysterious ways catch-all would come in handy to get around any bad feelings about taking dough from a non-believer.
Off topic
Just looking at atheist merchandise at cafepress. Here’s a couple notable sayings for t-shirts/bumper stickers:
What schools need is a moment of Science.
If Jesus is the answer, I want a better question.
I had the first one about ‘Moment of Science’ on my car for a few months, then replaced it with:
***********************
A Village in Texas has Lost its Idiot!
***********************
Right now, on my car, I have two bumper stickers:
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A Village in Texas has Lost its Idiot!
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and
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Freedom is the Distance between Church and State
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Also, a smaller, about baseball-size circular sticker with a big “W” and a slash through it (as in NO W).
Also, two emblems: an Evolve fish emblem and a Darwin fish emblem.
I have a “God is just Pretend” bumper sticker too, but there’s no room left on my little Civic’s trunk to fit it.
I also have three T-shirts that I wear all the time. One has a big Evolve Fish and something about “Darwin Day, February 12″ on it; another has “Support Science, Not Superstition”; and the last shows the great discoveries of science and intelligent design in two side-by-side columns: the ID column in empty.
I got all of these from http://www.evolvefish.com , which has a large selection of T-shirts, bumper stickers, and so on.
I was just looking at evolvefish.com There is a link for opponents feedback. It is very entertaining, this is one of my favorites:
Date: 1 July 2003
I think your products and philosophies are: Evil and Satan’s work!
I will recommend you to: Every idiot ( = non christian) just to see that science generally is crap! The truth reads in the Holy Bible!
I will visit your Home Page again: Once every half year.
What can we do to improve?: Love Jesus!
Tell us whatever YOU want to: This is stupid! Evolution doesn’t exist, although the earth is round it doesn’t move! EVERYTHING MOVES AROUND THE EARTH! AND EVERY INTELLIGENT PERSON ( = CHRISTIAN) KNOWS THIS FOR A FACT! IT ALL READS IN THE BIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU BURN IN HELL!!!!!!!!
Publication: None.
Find Us: Search Engine (Google)
Other Sites: http://www.exposingsatanism.com
Listen to Audio: Never.
Philosophy: Christian Supremacist
From: John
Gender: Male
Age: 27
State: MN
God bless you.