I live in a part of the country where fundamentalist, enthusiastic Christians are prevalent. God and Jesus -- and individuals' personal relationships with them -- are commonly referenced in public places, even by strangers. Prayers are offered and requested like Jello shots on Bourbon Street.

You all know the scene. God talks to these people every morning. He (never She) agrees 100% with them. According to these people, God / Jesus disapprove of all the things I hold dear. Likewise, God / Jesus endorse all the things I find abhorent in politics, the arts, popular culture, history, science, health care, etc.

For me, it's a stressful environment in which to live.

BTW, I'm old enough that you'd think I'd have already made my peace with these folks -- but I haven't. At least once a month, I fantasize about shooting one of them with their own beloved guns. (joke)

For those of you who live in this kind of stressful environment, do you have any suggestions about how to successfully negotiate this aggravation?

Oh man, I could feel your pain. I'm lucky to live on the east coast where I don't have to deal with it on a daily basis. What's kind of funny is that I had to unsubscribe from a few WLS support groups on facebook because it seemed like every other post was a sermon praising "Jesus" and "the Lord".

One way I deal with these situations is either a. avoid them or if that's impossible b. go along with whatever it is, but I won't go out of my way to please someone. I.E. someone makes a mostly harmless religious comment- I'll nod in agreement and smile. No point in arguing.

It depends on the person/situation. If someone wants to talk to me directly about religion -- "what church do you attend?" (lol, always with the assumption), "do you have a personal relationship with Jesus?" anything like that, I just answer with some close variation of "I'm not religious. At all." I say it like I mean it and they usually get the point. If they persist, I just say I have something to do and walk away.

For people who are having a general conversation about political or social or cultural stuff and their point of view is flavored by religion, I usually just add a polite comment and leave. If pressed, I've been known to say something like "well, I completely disagree but I've found it's impossible to argue with someone's religious views so I think it's best I not say anything else."

And for the basic "have a blessed Easter!" type comments I either remember my good manners and say "thank you! You too!" or if I'm feeling snarky I will smile, say thank you and give them a very enthusiastic "Happy Passover!" (or whatever nearby non-Christian holiday might be lurking around). I try not to do that too much because it seems to make them feel oppressed and like they are victims of a "War on Christmas" or whatever nonsense is being spouted on Faux News lately.

I sometimes feel like a small blue atheist dot awash in a red theocratic (Christian, always Christian) state.

Actually, that's pretty good: "I completely disagree but I've found it's impossible to argue with someone's religious views so I think it's best I not say anything else."

I think I'll tinker with that one a bit so it works for me.

Now that I've thought about this for 24 hours or so, I'm thinking tonight about how tough it is for anyone who's "different" to live in a land of "normal" people.

Aaahhh, tolerance. It's a hard thing -- whether you're the normal one or the different one.

Actually, that's pretty good: "I completely disagree but I've found it's impossible to argue with someone's religious views so I think it's best I not say anything else."

"I completely disagree, but I've found that it's impossible to reason with someone completely bereft of intelligence or mental stability."

Bless up!

-- From the Bible Belt, here.

Ugh! Funny aside... I was groggy in my hospital bed and was barely coming alert to a priest standing over me with a bible and blessing me. I'm thinking, "Um, is there something I don't know here? Am I being giving my last rites?" I fell back asleep but inquired later and they said there's a priest who volunteers and goes around blessing patients. Scary!!

Ugh! Funny aside... I was groggy in my hospital bed and was barely coming alert to a priest standing over me with a bible and blessing me. I'm thinking, "Um, is there something I don't know here? Am I being giving my last rites?" I fell back asleep but inquired later and they said there's a priest who volunteers and goes around blessing patients. Scary!!

Hahahhaa omg that made me literally laugh out loud... hahaha icould only imagine what you must have thought lol

Also LOLing.

Not sure WHAT I would've said in that situation and all drugged up to boot.

LOL!

Last week I took our old cat who's not feeling too well of late in to see our (otherwise great) veterinarian. In the midst of his treatment I had to endure a 45-minute rant by the vet (apropos of I don't know WTF?) about how modern medicine was worthless in curing disease and that all disease is cured by God and God alone, at His discretion.

Since my poor sick old cat was held hostage and I was worried the vet wouldn't give him the antibiotic shot he needed if I returned the vet's favor and shared with him some of my own "testimony" on the subject, I pretty much bit my tongue -- including the time during which the vet insisted on clasping my hands and praying with me for "understanding."

What. The. F**k.

Yes, this is my world.

Because Obama, I guess.