daria

Yesterday, I had some errands to run while on my lunch break, and as is often the case when I'm in uniform, a lady asked me a question about the uniform and proceeded to talk to me about being in the service. The whole conversation was under 5 minutes, and I was on my way inside a building. At the end of the exchange, the lady thanked me for doing my job and said, "God bless you." At that point, my back was almost to her as I was getting the door, and I felt like I couldn't say anything simply because I was in uniform... but I really wanted to just say, "No, thanks." Hell, if given the chance, I could easily go on a short diatribe about how rude it is to make the kind of assumption that lady did.

Does anyone have a standard response to that type of "god bless you?"

Ronin

I have taken to the habit of replying with..."Which?"

...then let any subsequent communication flow.

AspenMama

That is one of the things I don't know how best to deal with-- when you are reperesentating your organization or place of business and someone from the outside says that. I suppose really while I want to say "No, thanks" or "I have a different philosophy about all that", there often isn't time, and, that person is just expressing their religion which they have a right to do. Yes it is annoying, but as a representative of your company, the most diplomatic thing to do is brush the short little "bless yous" off your shoulders as you walk away. Anything longer though, does deserve a response.

6748_smith_w

I usually pretend to be really confused for a minute, and then say: "Which god- the invisible one that there is no evidence of?"

topane

I like Ronin's response. I've always replied with "and may Zeus smile upon you as well" or something similar. It usually makes them stop blinking for a minute.

MzNeko

A smile and "Oh, She does." confuses them too...

WWSD

As I was walking to the bookstore with a freind of mine the other day, I gave a guy a buck for gas, or so that was his story, and he said God Bless You.

As I turned away I said "I don't think blessing is what god's got in mind for me."

I didn't see if hte guy heard me or not. I sort of doubt he would have gotten it anyway, but my friend did. Whenever I sneezy she tells me "goddamn you"

I wish I had more friends like her.

Corgan Sow

Why atheists here are so sensitive to even such greetings like that? Not that she says "Jesus bless you" as that'll be a real insult to my beliefs. You're not going to hell for eternity for thanking someone who "blessed" you. It's better than not getting any kind of appreciation for what you did for them.

Perhaps they were still having presumptions that your place is still a Christian country. My opinion anyway.

Zora

That is a difficult situation. It is especially uncomfortable with all the "no atheists in foxholes" flap with the Iraq war. You could say "A simple thanks from you means more to me than any blessing." Said with a smile, a little touch on the arm, and your beliefs are not compromised and her feelings aren't hurt.

SanDiegoAtheist

I've found "Thanks, however, I'm an atheist" to be a suitable comeback for all those types of remarks.

Why shouldn't it be? It's not particularly confrontational (unless the other person happens to have particular prejudices against atheists, which, while all too common, is not MY problem, but theirs), and it's perfectly honest - and it's led to some quite good conversations which (at least I hope) led to a few prejudices being at least somewhat damaged.

I suppose that if the situation arose under circumstances where the person offering the blessing could adversely affect my personal or professional life, I'd possibly refrain from saying anything (depending on how much damage I considered could be done), but the situation Daria seems to be describing seems to be a perfect situation to point out to someone that the nice, helpful, friendly person they were just talking to was in fact, one of those Evil Atheist Conspiracy (tm) members.

Cheers,

The San Diego Atheist