For the strength. No, not anymore. I looked into the origins of my batshit insane evangelical cult upbringing, really studied it (and still am not not gorging anymore) and got over myself. I’m at peace with my own beliefs, and when that happens, the only criticism that is genuine and valid are those who make a mockery of their deities by doing evil in the deities’ names.

I don’t have that issue. I don’t think I talked about God or religion in years. I do go to a church for mutual aid but it’s not religious

Peace be upon you. 🌹 As one of those religious people, I can simply say: “No.” 😁

We deeply religious people (whether Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, or others) simply believe that everything happens through God’s will. However, this does not mean that free will doesn’t exist. You will be rewarded solely for your hard work, Inshallah, because that is your own merit.

You should just keep in mind that the phrase “you should thank God for giving you so much strength” is actually a compliment. It means “God loves you”

Of course, it also depends on how the person expresses this words 😅, but it is something beautiful.

Peace be upon you all🌹🌹🌹

Not to irritate you, but you sound like someone who hasn’t accepted Our Lord in your heart.

I live in a conservative suburb where every other person you meet is in some megachurch, so it’s inevitable. Having recently retired, I’m quickly running out of fux to give. One day I’m going to tell one of them how my Lord Cthulhu has changed my life, and see how fast they bail.

I’ve had a life of endless suffering due to many things. When people tell me it’s all part of our loving God’s plan for me, I almost lose mind. If God exists, he isn’t loving. Inflicting such awful things on your children isn’t love. It’s abuse.

I’ve been an atheist since I was a kid and first learned the word that explained my skepticism of all the nonsense I grew up with.

I became open about it when I got to college and had that phase where I let stuff like people saying “bless you” or “god gave you strength” get under my skin and make me mad. All these years later. I’ve learned to pick my battles and not let peoples well meaning sayings bug me.

“Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions” -Thomas Jefferson. Don’t get mad, and also don’t come right at them with the ridicule as they expect that and are prepared. Simply start agreeing with them and see how far you can take it.

It irritates me because the family member who attributes random occurrences to god intervening in daily life and a great evil we are fighting on earth that also intervenes is catholic; this mystic shit is heretical as hell.

A little irritated that they should presume upon my religious practice, like they think they need to act as hall monitor for God. Like you can praise God as you feel compelled, but don’t tell me how to; that’s between us.

I’m not a Christian anymore, but brought up as one. I was never told what Christianity actually is and meant, and only figured that out later in life. That did help me to not be too annoyed with the annoying parts of Christianity, even when people themselves don’t have a clue about what they are saying.

A basic misunderstanding of what is meant by ‘thanking God’ in a religious context like this, for atheist (and for a lot of theists as well), is the idea that this is an outwards expression, to something out there. For the theists it is supposed to be an inward expression to a feeling/knowledge of yourself. That’s the entire idea of baptism, it’s the symbolic acknowledgement of having God inside you. And part of the three parts of God (in Christianity), inside, outside, and in other persons. Symbolized by the holy spirit, God as a father and Jesus.

A consequence of being a creation of the almighty God. So, that’s 4 Gods to keep track of. Of which 3 of them are the representation of 1, this also hints at the polytheistic beginnings of religion.

I think for most atheists the feelings of annoyance isn’t because of these beliefs, as they are in themselves quite logical (in their own right, I didn’t mean ‘correct’ or ‘factual’). The annoying part is Christians don’t understand their own religion anymore and most of it is infested with fascism.

Anyway, this helps me not hate too much on harmless frases.

I was reading recently that thought as we know it, is a relatively recent development in humanity. Up until only a few hundred years ago, any ideas we came up with, were automatically attributed to the Gods. You didn’t come up with any ideas on your own, you wondered what to do, and God told you, and you did it.

It was only a few hundred years ago that people began to realize that they were thinking up these ideas on their own, and God had nothing to do with it.

Some people STILL think this way.

No, I’m not.

I’m not sure “irritated” is the right word. If God is the reason good things happen, I have to ask why THE FUCK my daughter got a brain tumor at age 10. If that was part of God’s Great Plan then he’s a FUCKING ASSHOLE, and next time you pray you can tell him that for me.

My mom showed me her list of answered prayers to prove prayer works. I looked at the list and it turns out I did most of that. If I’m doing all the work what do I need God for?