I was extremely irritated this week when the office catholic, who is quite happy to lie, cheat and steal, told me I'm going to hell unless I accept his god.

Omg! God told me I would see this post! Praise him!

I grew up culturally Christian and surrounded by soft-references to Christian stuff all the time. I try to see past whatever the literal thing they are saying and see the metaphor they are trying to express. People can have limited vocabulary and grow up in bubbles of their family, church, whatever. I try to give them Grace and just move on. Ultimately, they are trying to communicate a good thing with you. As long as they don’t start evangelizing or guilting, that’s different.

No not really. I hate that they use "that is demonic" or "your going to hell" to attack anything or anyone they do not like or understand.

Reminds me of a couple of joke/stories.

• A flood came and an owner was on top of the house. A boat came by to save him and he said "That's okay, God will save me". Then a helicopter came by to save him and he said the same thing. He drowned and went to heaven and asked God why he didn't come save him and God said "I sent you a boat and a helicopter!".
• A very famous, powerful rabbi stopped at an inn and the owner was out, but the staff treated him terribly. The rabbi cursed the hotel and stated that it will burn down the following day at noon. The next morning the rabbi got up to leave and the owner, who was now back, begged and pleaded with him to remove the curse. The rabbi eventually agreed. The peasants were watching the inn to see what would happen and when noon came and went, and the inn did not burn down, everyone exclaimed "It's a miracle!".

I'm annoyed by anyone with a personality that consists of exactly one thing and one thing only, even more so when the one thing they picked for their personality is a tradition of extravagant bullshit that has been ruining lives for millenia

Atheist here. No, I don’t. The religious person who put in the work still put in the work, through their faith in God. The Atheist does it through their faith in themselves. It’s the same energy, because the religious person doesn’t think they have it in them. They do, but God makes it manageable. I get that. So when they say it about you, they’re just using tense they understand.

Like when they say “bless you” when you sneeze. They’re wishing you health in terms they understand.

Yes.-The phrase "God has a reason for everything." Is something i hear a lot and take issue with.

-That said, it sounds like the person was pointing out that it's worth practicing gratitude, but then they had to go and wrap that message up in religion, which automatically makes it a turn-off.

To be honest, I've met more folks who complain about deeply religious people than I've met deeply religious people

Religion is, and always has been, a tool used by those in power to legitimize the status quo.

Its primary purpose is to shift responsibility for actions onto fate and thus divert attention from the fact that it is people who are responsible for these actions. In this way, even the most unfair and exploitative conditions can still be portrayed as just: the king by the grace of God, the kingdom of heaven that awaits the patient after death, hell that punishes the greedy, making it unnecessary to hold them accountable in this life, and so on.

This also works in reverse to strip people of the self-confidence that they can achieve things through their own efforts: Thank God for the food he has put on the table, for your success, and for everything else, because he has given it to you in his infinite generosity - don’t even think of making demands.

In this sense, religion provides a justification for hierarchies in society. It cements the status quo in the interests of the powerful.

Hence: People who do not question this narrative - which serves their own exploitation - but have made it the purpose of their lives are quite strange, because they are thereby harming themselves.

If I got mad at peoples lack of critical thinking I wouldn’t get very far in a day. But they are insane.

“Thank God for curing my cancer!”

“HE FUCKING GAVE IT TO YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE!”

So fucking irritated my dude. I know in their minds they're doing it out of a sense of trying to help other souls to find the correct path, in theory. But when you look at it from a secular point of view it literally just feels like them asserting their worldview constantly in the most smug possible way, like get fucked fr. Humans just don't know how to stop themselves from convincing everyone around them of whatever fairytale horse shit they desperately need for themselves to not fear death. I don't mind them believing whatever the hell they want, I just wish they would shut their ass about it. If it's the truth thing everyone on Earth has the same access to it and I don't need somebody constantly reminding me that what's true is true. Things that are true don't need to be constantly repeated

probably not half as irritated as god would be

Thank God for imbuing you with skepticism

Comedian Daniel Sloss said something about thanking god after surviving cancer: No, it was the doctors, stupid. (We have tickets to see him soon. Check if he's in your area, he's awesome.)

"God" is the greatest cause of murder and war. It's fucking stupid. In the old testament, he's a fucking dick. Seriously, what an asshole. But "christians" who know nothing about the book they proselytize pretend they have a moral obligation to be assholes to people they don't like.

I've studied and read more historical and educational books on early christianity than any right-wing republican asshole (I live in the USA), I guarantee it. I was on a serious mission for about 18 months after years of casual Wikipedia browsing. But it's not just christians.

Any person who makes their religion known to strangers is a weak piece of shit. Wear a cross, a burka, a kippah, whatever. You suck. It should be private. Advertising your beliefs shows how insecure you are about them. I don't need to prove a goddamn thing to anyone because I'm confident that I'm morally correct. You know why you need "god above"? Because you're not sure what to think without someone telling you what's right and wrong.

Yeah, you're to blame for everything bad and God gets credit for everything good.

Not irritated but it is slightly annoying. Just try to remember these people base their entire personality on their religion and without they don’t know who they are. It’s why it’s so hard to get people to leave.

My take is that it is all subjective, I feel like I busted ass, I feel like a god interviewed, I feel like it was my lucky socks. Without a study and metrics we can't objectively measure reliably, but that would be overkill for every little thing. So we take our subjective shortcuts and move on. My advice would be focus on the sentiment, "that's impressive, it's good that hard work/gods intervention/lucky socks helped that outcome, because it seems so surreal otherwise.". That or have the heart to heart and put in the effort to align if it's important and they are important to you.

I’ve been told the same thing, they said god gave me my strength, but realistically if this “god” did give me anything, it would be my weaknesses and hostile social environment, where I was forced to find my own strengths that a god couldn’t give unless they wanted me to face some sort of mythological nepotism.

I like it when they thank god for saving them from natural disasters or illness or whatever.

Yeah, I’m pretty sure God created those circumstances, so why the fuck are you thanking him??

I find it extremely offensive and presumptuous when a religious person tries to use God talk with me. When somebody tells me to praise Jesus or thank the Lord I feel the same level of discomfort that I'd imagine they would feel if I said hail Satan or let Satan guide us or whatever. I don't consent to having any of those intentions towards me and it's very selfish and narrow minded that they assume everyone would agree to those things they say.

I especially feel irritated when they credit god over actual people that made something happen, like thanking god over a surgeon that just saved your life

Yes. I think ill start replying "Yes, I thank Satan, my one and only true God" just to see the horror on their faces

I just let it go if I know that the person is religious. I was pretty religious myself until I grew out of it in my mid 20s. So, I know why a religious person might say to thank their god. It is saying basically to thank some divine deity for giving you such talent. They mean well so I just take it like a compliment and nod if I were you. But i can see why you might be annoyed by it, especially if you did not have a religious upbringing.

I wouldn't be irritated if they didn't insist on it incessantly

Well it is nice to realise that despite putting in the work, it is a huge privilege to have the freedom to be born in a time and place where you actually get the chance to realise your potential - instead of having suffered abuse at home, being sent to a farm or factory at 8 years old or simply dieing from diarrhoea. So yeah, sucks if people want to be thankful to god for that, but being thankful for what good exists in the world is a positive thing.