I want you to know that G-d loves you.

[Sarsparilla]

I very rarely hear "God bless you" after a sneeze.

Same here. It's simply "bless you".

[pstychologist]

Why shouldn't an advertising slogan be counted as doctrine? Isn't it used to authoritatively promote their specific product?

So intentional or not, do you feel that your freedom of expression is threatened by that? Do you feel like your most personal values are under attack by a shirt that says, "Bill's TV World?" Do you think every individual wearing the shirt has an agenda? Is the promotion of anything, be it a product, organization or charity cause offensive to you? If so then you are an equal opportunity user of the word proselytize. Otherwise, you are exclusively reacting to it as has been described in this thread - as the promotion of religion, specifically Christianity. The only logical explanation for such a vehement response is that you feel like they are pushing their beliefs on you by saying, "God bless you." Since you regard this as proselytizing, I applied the word "force" to the definition. If you regard the word as neutral it wouldn't have any power to force anyone to do anything, which is exactly what the phrase "God bless you" urges you to do - nothing. It's not offered as an attempt to persuade you to do anything or change anything, or to convert your way of thinking to theirs. It's just an idiom.

Wow, you sure don't like being told you are wrong.

I don't know where to start pointing out your total fuck up here.

[pstychologist]

we'll put you on Shue's four out five godless heathens list then

I thought the phrase in question was 'God Bless you', not just bless you.

[Linda]

I say "bless you" (leaving the god part off) and I'm an atheist/agnostic. Or perhaps an ego-maniac. It's really "Linda bless you." but the Linda part is unspoken.

Everyone wants my blessings.

[Neroli]

I say "bless you" (leaving the god part off) and I'm an atheist/agnostic. Or perhaps an ego-maniac. It's really "Linda bless you." but the Linda part is unspoken.

Everyone wants my blessings.

I enjoy this and I shall take it as my own. Neroli blesses Linda.

[Marian Paroo]

I very rarely hear "God bless you" after a sneeze.

Here it's LaBriut!", ie, Gesuntaheit.

[shuebox]

Shue, I have to disagree here. I don't assign a negative intent to those who seem to be actively proseltyzing. I've been one of those ones who believed that my way was the right way to salvation and if you didn't know that way, you were lost. I can see where the person who is telling me "I want you to know that God loves you" believes in the best possible way that they are giving me what should be good news. And taking me being at work out of the equation, I can't imagine a random person taking it well for me to stop them and tell them "The Goddess loves you".

I can't either, but why is that? Maybe it's because no one does it.

If there was a nationwide movement to change that, eventually it would become everyday. There would be resistance of course, not unlike when "happy holidays" challenged "Merry Christmas." Only a few diehards still get worked up about happy holidays. I don't think everyday people would be offended by a different bless you offered by a sincere individual, or at least most wouldn't say anything ugly back. Just like most people don't think much about it or have an angry word to say when a God bless you is said.

[shuebox]

Wow, you sure don't like being told you are wrong.

I don't know where to start pointing out your total fuck up here.

I don't know why my post earned a "wow." And I'm sure you'll find your way to a starting point.

[Raven]

I thought the phrase in question was 'God Bless you', not just bless you.

It also started out having nothing to do with sneezes, but I am willing to allow as open an interpretation as possible

One of the ferrets sneezed this morning, and my daughter said "bless you" with no "god", but I asked her anyway. She said she really doesn't know if she believes in any sort of god or deity, that her opinion/belief changes back and forth. She also said that her response to sneezes varies between "bless you" and "gesundheit", whichever pops out of her mouth first.

She also said that she has never and would never tell someone that God loves them or say any variation to "god bless you" under any circumstances other than a sneeze.

So I guess she's support for both sides of the argument. In response to a sneeze, it is a reflexive comment with zero meaning. In all other situations, she views the words as having meaning and wouldn't say them to others regardless what her personal beliefs were at that time.

I'm curious if any of the godless heathens who say "bless you" to a sneeze also say "god loves you" to the person at the drive-thru?

[Linda]

I'm curious if any of the godless heathens who say "bless you" to a sneeze also say "god loves you" to the person at the drive-thru?

Um, no. I just say "Give me my fries and STFU."