God, and the Chain Letters of his Followers

Every so often, I'll open my email or cell phone and find a message from my mother or another family member. In it will be dancing .gifs or a prayer, and of course the requisite promise of "something good" happening to me in 7/9/111/777 minutes if I send it to a certain number of people I love.

It goes without saying I don't find these messages particularly touching. I do not feel inclined to scold my family for sending them — after all, they just want me to know they care about me — but I do wish they didn't waste space in my mailbox with them.

As an atheist, I feel some people need an etiquette lesson on the sharing of religious messages. Most non-religious individuals don't respond aggressively when someone says "God bless you" when they sneeze, but that's not to say it isn't offensive to them. Most atheists I know don't object to religious sentiments, and allow them to be expressed uninterrupted. It is pretty well accepted that Christianity is the dominant religion in our culture (not to be confused the the erroneous assertion that this is a "Christian nation"), and that we should be tolerant of minor expressions such as these. It's not as though we expect every stranger on the street to know we don't follow their religion, and that they should adjust their behavior to accomodate for our preferences. We're definitely more reasonable than that.

But when it comes to friends and family, who know of our non-belief, religious sentiments and messages directed at us always come with a certain degree of utter disrespect.

I do not mean to discount the good-hearted intentions of the people who love their atheistic family just the same. It is because of that love that most atheists keep quiet about these offenses. I for one completely understand my mother believes what she is doing is a good thing, that for her to tell me how she prays for me and wishes I would turn to God is her way of showing she cares. She really means no harm by it, and in what she is doing, there really is very little harm being done. But if it were a friend doing this, I probably wouldn't hang around with them very long.

Telling an atheist they should turn to God in their time of need is disrespectful. You are telling that person they are not in control of their lives, that they cannot help themselves, and, worst of all, that they are a very wrongly confused individual. Atheists don't mind being told that they are wrong, but to tell them they are wrong without showing any real evidence is like spitting in their face. And, let's not even have this debate, there is no real or rational evidence in the world you can present to prove the existence or potentness of God. Unless your atheist family is shoving atheism down your throat (which is something I for one would never do to family), this kind of behavior is completely uncalled for. 

If you have any respect for your loved ones, by all means go on and tell them you love them. But you don't have to invoke God to do that. Atheists love love as much as non-atheists do, and it will mean a lot more to them to know that you care about them no matter what, than that a God they don't believe in loves them no matter what.