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It's not really pushing religion as it is an act of kindness. I don't really understand why someone would find it offensive for wishing them better health as it

by nyberg 7y ago

It's not really pushing religion as it is an act of kindness. I don't really understand why someone would find it offensive for wishing them better health as it's the intention that counts rather than what faith you hold. I'm not religious at all and I still say "bless you" since it's from the culture I grew up with of wishing others well. If anyone finds that offensive then they certainly have more issues than I do.

magduf 7y ago
>I don't really understand why someone would find it offensive for wishing them better health You're not just wishing them better health; you're wishing that your preferred deity magically give them better health. So you're pushing your faith in that deity on that person. >I'm not religious at all and I still say "bless you" since it's from the culture I grew up The culture I grew up in (America, specifically the South) does the same thing. It also has other great things in its "culture", like murdering black people with nooses during the Jim Crow days, and generally being intolerant of people who are different. "The culture I grew up in" is not a good excuse for bad behavior, and that includes pushing religion on people.
- nyberg 7y ago
  It's hardly bad behaviour to wish someone well and it's never been. One shouldn't have to add "and if you do not follow the same then interpret your deity (if any)" to a conversation as the recipent may interpret under their prefered deity as they wish. It's rather sad that even an act of kindness is now seen as bad behaviour simply from refusal to accept that we have different ways of showing it. As for culture, sure, every single one is at some point guilty of crimes against humanity such as in my country [1], [2], etc and we must be able to look past those things as otherwise it's impossible to change for the better. We will be different, have different beliefs, different sexuality, different colours of skin, and different languages to convey our thoughts. If we continue to see even an act of kindness as hostile then I don't have much hope people will ever get over differences. It shouldn't be different if they're Christian, Sunni, or any else and extend their greeting in their way to you along with their own way of wishing you well. What matters most is the intention rather than if they're from the same faith as you. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_sterilisation_in_Sweden https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_sterilisation_in_Sw... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midsummer_crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midsummer_crisis
  - magduf 7y ago
    >the recipent may interpret under their prefered deity as they wish This may come as a shock to you, but there's a lot of people in the world who don't have any "preferred deity", and really don't appreciate religious people trying to push their myths on them. >It's rather sad that even an act of kindness is now seen as bad behaviour simply from refusal to accept that we have different ways of showing it. This reminds me of Christians who want to give food to starving people, but only if they sit and listen to some stupid sermon trying to get them to convert. If you want to be kind, then don't tie your "act of kindness" to your belief system in an attempt to convert others to it. This is generally an American problem too. Other cultures, even when they do have a religion, don't really care about pushing it on others. Even in Europe, most modern-day Christians there seem to keep their religion very private (hence why Germans say "gesundheit" when someone sneezes, even though Germany is traditionally a Christian country).
    - nyberg 7y ago
      'none' is in the set of prefered presented in the text you quoted and in the example disclaimer. Well I live in Europe as I'm Swedish; in the UK it's common to say "bless you" while in Sweden we usually say "prosit" (the two I've spent a significant portion of my life in). The former would even be from those not following Christian traditions but rather as stated before. This seems to reflect the trend in quite a few others in Europe such as Spain, Ireland, Wales (UK), etc. Again, most of it isn't an attempt at "converting" or even some other hidden motive. It may be different in other parts of the world but from the places I've lived in Europe it's been as I've stated.

by nyberg 7y ago

magduf 7y ago

>I don't really understand why someone would find it offensive for wishing them better health You're not just wishing them better health; you're wishing that your preferred deity magically give them better health. So you're pushing your faith in that deity on that person. >I'm not religious at all and I still say "bless you" since it's from the culture I grew up The culture I grew up in (America, specifically the South) does the same thing. It also has other great things in its "culture", like murdering black people with nooses during the Jim Crow days, and generally being intolerant of people who are different. "The culture I grew up in" is not a good excuse for bad behavior, and that includes pushing religion on people.

nyberg 7y ago
It's hardly bad behaviour to wish someone well and it's never been. One shouldn't have to add "and if you do not follow the same then interpret your deity (if any)" to a conversation as the recipent may interpret under their prefered deity as they wish. It's rather sad that even an act of kindness is now seen as bad behaviour simply from refusal to accept that we have different ways of showing it. As for culture, sure, every single one is at some point guilty of crimes against humanity such as in my country [1], [2], etc and we must be able to look past those things as otherwise it's impossible to change for the better. We will be different, have different beliefs, different sexuality, different colours of skin, and different languages to convey our thoughts. If we continue to see even an act of kindness as hostile then I don't have much hope people will ever get over differences. It shouldn't be different if they're Christian, Sunni, or any else and extend their greeting in their way to you along with their own way of wishing you well. What matters most is the intention rather than if they're from the same faith as you. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_sterilisation_in_Sweden https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_sterilisation_in_Sw... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midsummer_crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midsummer_crisis
- magduf 7y ago
  >the recipent may interpret under their prefered deity as they wish This may come as a shock to you, but there's a lot of people in the world who don't have any "preferred deity", and really don't appreciate religious people trying to push their myths on them. >It's rather sad that even an act of kindness is now seen as bad behaviour simply from refusal to accept that we have different ways of showing it. This reminds me of Christians who want to give food to starving people, but only if they sit and listen to some stupid sermon trying to get them to convert. If you want to be kind, then don't tie your "act of kindness" to your belief system in an attempt to convert others to it. This is generally an American problem too. Other cultures, even when they do have a religion, don't really care about pushing it on others. Even in Europe, most modern-day Christians there seem to keep their religion very private (hence why Germans say "gesundheit" when someone sneezes, even though Germany is traditionally a Christian country).
  - nyberg 7y ago
    'none' is in the set of prefered presented in the text you quoted and in the example disclaimer. Well I live in Europe as I'm Swedish; in the UK it's common to say "bless you" while in Sweden we usually say "prosit" (the two I've spent a significant portion of my life in). The former would even be from those not following Christian traditions but rather as stated before. This seems to reflect the trend in quite a few others in Europe such as Spain, Ireland, Wales (UK), etc. Again, most of it isn't an attempt at "converting" or even some other hidden motive. It may be different in other parts of the world but from the places I've lived in Europe it's been as I've stated.