So, here's a topic I know may anger some, but is there anyone else who can't stand when someone just assumes you're religious and offers to pray for you? As an atheist, I never presume to guess what anyone else's beliefs are and I don't go around telling random people there is no god, especially in a time of turmoil or crisis. So when I tell someone I'm having surgery, or about any other significant event, whether in person or online, how about a little common courtesy and not just assuming I believe as you do and leaving your religion out of it?

I'm not looking to debate the existence of god here, I'm just trying to get people to realize that other people believe differently than they do and to not make assumptions.

10 hours ago, jess9395 said:

Oh and I don’t consider prayer something intimate.

Weird ... when I was growing up, I was told that prayed is a private/intimate chat with god.

Mmmm.

9 hours ago, Sunlilly said:

You are maybe 3 per cent of the population

Gross underestimation. (Even for the bible-belt of the USA!)

If I wasn’t a recent bariatric patient I would have gotten the popcorn out by now!

On 06/02/2018 at 22:48, Rainbow_Warrior said:

Weird ... when I was growing up, I was told that prayed is a private/intimate chat with god.

Mmmm.

So, then all those people who pray at church in large groups.... what about them?

Just staying my opinion. You are welcome to yours. We all have them.

Each day I learn something new. I never even thought of asking someone before I send prayers their way or if it was ok to wish them a merry Christmas....

I'm not a religious person...I have my own beliefs, but I don't go to church nor do I try to push my beliefs on anyone....

I do however say merry christmas and bless you when someone sneezes. But it doesn't mean I'm going to be dropping a bible off for christmas or handing you a bible and a box of tissues when you sneeze.

I say if it bothers you, say something...

Because I am positive that people who send well wishes are genuinely just hoping the best for you.

And Don't Cry for Me Argentina. ?

I’m an atheist too. When someone tells me they’re going to pray for me, I just say ok. If they want to waste their time, then that is on them. If someone told me they were going to light a bonfire and dance around it for me, I’d say the same. If they told me they were going to sacrifice a chicken for me, I would put my foot down. If it doesn’t impact me or harm anything, then whatever. I haven’t had that happen to me in years, tho...
I get that the thoughtless and inconsiderate casual announcement that you one is a God believing praying Christian in a public forum directed at someone who may or may not be is arrogant, inappropriate, self-centered, and enormously irritating but we live on ground zero for Christian egotistic fanaticism. The more their membership numbers fall, the worse it gets, too...
Didn’t Jesus tell Christians to pray in private?
Too bad Christians aren’t more like their Christ, eh?

I had a bad week this week. I'm grateful for that.

It could have been the worst week of my life.

My daughter was caught in a microburst on her way home from work Wednesday. Mircobursts are small storms that create tornado-like conditions.

Long story short, an oak tree fell on her car while she was driving, and crushed her car.

The wreckage looked unsurvivable, and she walked away with scratches....Which we proved after spending most of the night at the emergency room getting a CT scan and a million xrays.

At the impound lot and scrap yard, we were inundated with stupid shite. "You had a guardian angel watching you" "Thank you, God!" "It was a miracle!"

NO. JUST NO. Do NOT pimp your religious bullshite using my kid or her misfortune.

If there were a God, he'd be a SADISTIC CRUEL SICK FECK...for nearly killing my kid and terrifying both of us.

But since such a being does not, in fact, exist, I can chock it up to unfortunate luck and global warming causing more of this violent crap weather... and dated horrible weather predictive equipment that can't keep up with these changes. (because of, you know....real living ASSHATS who don't believe in science and gutted our science budgets...who are also the same nitwits blathering on about angels and being God's favorite little buddy...who make our world UNSAFE and STUPID)

So, if I seem a little unreasonably pissed off about people and their lunatic prayers and lunatic fantasy ideas....it's because SCIENCE could have PREVENTED this if we didn't pander endlessly to religious mysticism.

You know what saved my kid's life here? SCIENCE. The engineers who predicted roof cave ins and reinforced the door frame. The healthcare team who took a CT of her head to make sure she didn't have an intracranial bleeds and xrays of her lungs and spine. The safety science that figured out how to make seat belts keep you in the safest positions.

NOT some bloody sky fairy. Not prayer. Not divine intervention.

Thank SCIENCE.

Edited June 4, 20188 yr by Creekimp13

Gosh Creekimp13, that’s definitely a bad week! Glad to hear no major injuries.

On 5/30/2018 at 2:11 PM, elforman said:

So, here's a topic I know may anger some, but is there anyone else who can't stand when someone just assumes you're religious and offers to pray for you? As an atheist, I never presume to guess what anyone else's beliefs are and I don't go around telling random people there is no god, especially in a time of turmoil or crisis. So when I tell someone I'm having surgery, or about any other significant event, whether in person or online, how about a little common courtesy and not just assuming I believe as you do and leaving your religion out of it?

I'm not looking to debate the existence of god here, I'm just trying to get people to realize that other people believe differently than they do and to not make assumptions.

I am an atheist as well but sometimes you have to consider that the intention is one of care and consideration. Life is too short to sweat the small details. As long as the intention of the person is good, then I can easily see the forest for the trees.

6 hours ago, Creekimp13 said:

I had a bad week this week. I'm grateful for that.

It could have been the worst week of my life.

My daughter was caught in a microburst on her way home from work Wednesday. Mircobursts are small storms that create tornado-like conditions.

Long story short, an oak tree fell on her car while she was driving, and crushed her car.

The wreckage looked unsurvivable, and she walked away with scratches....Which we proved after spending most of the night at the emergency room getting a CT scan and a million xrays.

At the impound lot and scrap yard, we were inundated with stupid shite. "You had a guardian angel watching you" "Thank you, God!" "It was a miracle!"

NO. JUST NO. Do NOT pimp your religious bullshite using my kid or her misfortune.

If there were a God, he'd be a SADISTIC CRUEL SICK FECK...for nearly killing my kid and terrifying both of us.

But since such a being does not, in fact, exist, I can chock it up to unfortunate luck and global warming causing more of this violent crap weather... and dated horrible weather predictive equipment that can't keep up with these changes. (because of, you know....real living ASSHATS who don't believe in science and gutted our science budgets...who are also the same nitwits blathering on about angels and being God's favorite little buddy...who make our world UNSAFE and STUPID)

So, if I seem a little unreasonably pissed off about people and their lunatic prayers and lunatic fantasy ideas....it's because SCIENCE could have PREVENTED this if we didn't pander endlessly to religious mysticism.

You know what saved my kid's life here? SCIENCE. The engineers who predicted roof cave ins and reinforced the door frame. The healthcare team who took a CT of her head to make sure she didn't have an intracranial bleeds and xrays of her lungs and spine. The safety science that figured out how to make seat belts keep you in the safest positions.

NOT some bloody sky fairy. Not prayer. Not divine intervention.

Thank SCIENCE.

Wow that's frightening! I am so glad that your daughter was not seriously hurt!

WOW CreekImp, no euphemisms, no mindless prattle, no Goody nothing else happened and certainly,no "My relative survived worse" just. WOW

@Creekimp13 So glad to hear your daughter was all right!

Glad your daughter did not get hurt.

Horrifying

terrible experience/ordeal you, daughter dealt with!!

sending you big hugs (hope that's ok to do)

kathy