How open are you with your Atheism?

[abaris]

I sneeze, you knee jerk "bless you", I fill with rage and give you a HULK whomping.

The most you would get out of me on that occasion would be a grunt. Also the main reason why I never used the religious greeting. Too long, too complicated. Good day comes more naturally and can be shortened to day. I'm generally not big on phrases, since I consider them all to be meaningless. I know it's polite to greet persons or to return a greeting, but I use the shortest version. That's really all there is to it.

The only time when my neckhair stands up with religious phrases being used is in politics. Probably not understandable for an America who's politicians invoke god even before taking a bathroom break. But it doesn't happen in my country. Now the rightwing candidate for the presidential election does just that. And he stands a realistic chance of winning. Apart from being a borderline piece of nazi shit, he adds god to the mix by now.

Interestingly, the churches, catholic as well as protestant were the first ones to react. But not to praise his use of "so help me god", but to fight for the division between church and state. They said that god has no place in politics and replied by quoting the "thou shalt not use the lord's name in vain" bit.

By the way, there's a secular version to react to sneezing. Also shorter. It translates to "be well".