When someone brings up Jesus - out of the blue...

Is your first reaction that they are insulting your intelligence?

Yes.

How dare you assume I'm Christian?

Often I just announce that I'm not a Christian, so I'm not terrifically interested in Jesus, or other middle eastern religions.

event?

Brings back fond memories of AM radio in the late '60s.

Thanks.

religious talk shows.

I fear that this pendulum swing toward religious fundamentalism might last another 30 or 40 years before society finally realizes that their lunacy is a grave threat to society.

they are a salesman, and I hate salespeople.

To me, it's more rude than spitting in my face.

Christians should keep their god to themselves, IMO. I don't have any use for him.

and not even willing to listen to what I'm saying.

If they want to have an intelligent, reasoned discussion, then no. If they are out to save me, then yes.

and i think, 'o brother, here we fucking go'.

i was steeped in southern baptist dogma as a youth, and it took years to loose my religion. it takes real effort.

i no longer suffer conversations past the 'have you heard the good news' cue.

I work in Customer Service, at a CS desk in a grocery store. All day today, I had to deal with people telling me to "Have a nice Easter". My boss knows my feelings on the matter, but since I have a TON of respect for her, I just went with it.

In response to your question, before my Mom died in August, I was talking to a person that I work with, and she pipes up with "God doesn't give us more than we can handle". I was really pissed. I just said "Now there's a loving 'God' for you. Bullshit."

If someone wished me a "Happy Hannakuh" or a "blessed passover" or a "holy Ramadan" I would just take it as good wishes. They're not trying to convert you, geez.

By saying I just went with it, I smiled, said "Thank you and you too." I wasn't going to be rude and say nothing.

I know it really must be difficult to have religion crammed down your throat. I feel it to and I AM a Christian. But for the most part, a lot of people aren't the "cram it down your throat" kind of Christians, and they're just trying to be friendly.

I was cranky at Christmas time, too. :P

I'm Christian, but if someone tries to convert me to some other form of christianity I get annoyed. But I also get annoyed if some atheist keeps calling me an idiot for believing in God. Either way, I despise people trying to change me, be it changing me from liberal to conservative, vegetarian to meat eater, christian to atheist, christian to other christian.

"I also get annoyed if some atheist keeps calling me an idiot for believing in God."

That's what a LOT of the atheists (not just here) do.

It's human nature I guess.

It's funny. Sometimes the very same people who HATE others judging them for being different are doing just that by generalizing. But most DU atheists are very respectful of religion and christians as long as their beliefs are respected as well.

(cause I ain't buying)

agent.

"Well, this feels weird."

My next reaction is to think they are rather arrogant and self-righteous, especially if they assume I'm not Christian.

Usually I just duck out of the conversation as politely as possible.

You make this atheist feel like he's allowed to just be - something a lot of people even here won't allow, what with their laughable attempts to define what people like myself are. If more Christians were like you, the world would be a better place.

I thank you for all you great posts. Even though I lack any kind of god belief whatsoever, let me say "Happy Easter" to you and yours.

when I don't need it, I already have a car.

out of the blue. No, I take that back, it's exactly like that feeling...

and no. The fact that they think I believe in their invisible friend is childlike and naive but the assumption that said invisible friend has some significance in my life is insulting.

I am a practicing Christian and they annoy the heck out of me. I can only imagine someone who chooses other beliefs.
My God, they are relentless, please understand, we too are terrorized by them.

It happens everywhere now, paying my storage unit bill, the WAWA, the grocery store, they invite you to church events.

Something changed, with Bush, they are empowered. I have argued with the maintenance man at my condo, he thinks Bush is for a progressive tax cut. They (the ignorant), now feel empowered to yell at the top of their lungs, untruths. If is disgusting, I was taught, if you don't know what you are talking about, be quiet.

And their rise to power was made possible by those who said nothing. Please don't stop resisting them, you are one of the few who actually see what's happening.
Many christians think it's just ducky that they put god back into our schools, government offices, libraries, etc. etc. etc. because it's THEIR god. I doubt they would just smile and nod if it was someone else's deity.
Our tax dollars are paying for this. Churches are tax exempt. The government is supporting religion by funding faith-based charities.
We are being forced to pay for the takeover. Where's the outrage?

However, I recently ran into this very friendly and talkative guy who works at the gas station near my home in line at the grocery store and noticed he was wearing a shirt with flags all over it. He noticed me trying to read what it said ("One nation under God") and launched into a spiel about the pledge of allegiance and God and I think he got Bush in there, too, and he may have mentioned Jesus. I just kind of smiled and nodded like, "Okay, whatever, Dude," and didn't express an opinion because he's always been nice and I didn't want to engage him.

My first reaction was more like he was making me really uncomfortable, and subsequent thoughts were more about his intelligence than mine.