Quote:
Because I am anti-religion (I don't want to get into a discussion about that, so let's just leave it at that is my belief
), I see it as a religous statement, so I'm offended by it.
Maybe it's not intended to be that way, but that is how I perceive it. I just can't see an athiest or agnostic person going around saying "have a blessed day".
I don't have a problem with it. I see the intention behind the speaker as being a wish for me to have a nice day, using a word the speaker believes to be better than "nice." I also realize that whatever the speaker says is not going to affect my day, unless it changes my mood, causing a change in my perception and thus a change in my behavior. So I let it affect me in a positive manner.
Whether or not the speaker is also intending to "force religion on me" is irrelevant -- the action of saying "have a blessed day" with that intention would be like shooting spit-balls at a tank. I'm already content in how I think, so that's not going to happen.
And yes, I am freaky enough to have this thought pattern go through my head as someone says "have a blessed day" to me. How else do you think I came up with this resolution?
Before I retired my customers would wish me"Happy New Year", "Happy Hanukkah", "Merry Christmas", "Happy Halloween", "Merry Meet", "Happy Friday", "Happy Birthday", "Merry Monday" or whatever.
I never responded with anything but "Thank you" or "And to You" or responded in kind.
Of course we could all make out little pieces of paper with options for a greeting and hand it to whoever we wanted to greet so that they could choose what greeting o-fended them less.
Alternatively maybe people could paste a sticker on their forehead with their preferences. That way they would either 1) not be o-fended by a greeting someone chose to give in good spirit or 2) be ignored and given no good wishes ever.
People get way too o-fended over stupid stuff these days.
Quote:
What you describe is proselytizing, and I agree it is annoying (I wonder how people would feel if atheists proselytized outside churches....hmmmmm). I don't think "have a blessed day" contains enough information to count as proselytizing.
"Have a blessed day" is, to me, just a short innocuous wish for good things to happen to me after I leave the person speaking the phrase. And to me, that's a cute little bit of good-feeling that I'd return with a smile.
I am told that in the military now you can hold up a sign that says stop or some other form of protest to your commander so your feelings won't get hurt... I wonder how that is working out? The military is apparently getting "warm and fuzzy" and "sensitive" now also.
Of course some people I have met invite drama to themselves by the way they dress, act or choices made, sometimes I choose to just ignore them.