[font style="font-family:'Georgia','Baskerville Old Face','Helvetica',fantasy;" size=4 color=teal]Pray in one hand, shit in the other....see which fills up first.[/font]

Yes, he was crude. But the visual was enough to get the point across.

and I had a friendship with him, I wouldn't impose on the friendship by asking for favors.

(that is a paraphrasing of George Carlin)

and pretty comprehensive.

Something that always bugs the shit out of me is when people bless me after I sneeze.

I usually utter an almost silent thank you and then do a slow burn inside for having to acknowledge such an ignorant superstition.

Gesundheit, passed down through the family from my great grandfather, the Protestant minister.

by my mother who was a stickler for politeness and good manners. It was just a common courtesy. You probably know it comes from the days when everyone was a believer and a sneeze could often be a genuine cause for worry. Even today there are some situations, like a job interview, where a sneeze attack could be embarrassing and the automatic pat response of "god bless you" can ease some of the awkwardness that silence might bring. I don't have any kind of verbal salve, however, if said person vomits. I just gag, run, and make it worse.

I'm as atheistic as it gets, so it's certainly no kind of religious incantation for me, and I don't expect divine backup help when I say "god damn it, him , her, or them.

I would add that it's a little embarrassing when they make a spectacle out of themselves doing it in public.

When I was a kid my friends always crossed themselves and mumbled their prayers to themselves when they felt the need. Even at one of our best friend's funeral. It was No Big Thang.

Not sure what changed.

Spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch...makes me think of Austin Powers.

They're not supposed to praying publicly to show everyone how righteous they are. That's what the book says. I also get the impression that he wouldn't approve when they go about telling everyone about their prayers, either, since that's pretty much the same thing.

How else are True™ christians supposed to show everyone else how morally superior they are?

By their works?

Pfft.

Off with you!

Since he knows everything, he knows what you want to have happen. Therefore, you don't need to waste your time praying.

B.T.W., since nothing happens without His doing, we can all agree that He caused the earthquake in Nepal. In fact, he caused every earthquake and the volcano eruption in Chile.

So why are people praying for him to undo the results of his work?

It seems the whole sacrificing his son-part took a lot out of him (so much so that there is a branch of christianity that claims yahweh died for real at that point.) Where once he could create a universe and summon up a plague of boils, now all he can do is make a face on a piece of toast or cause a recovery from a disease that people recover from. Once master of the universe, now just a ripple in the event stream.

That usually gives them pause.

when asked, when I was a kid.

The usual response was silence and an "oh, that's nice (I wonder what it is but I'm not going to ask)" look.

Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day;
Give him a religion, and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish.

You'll never find a dead Christian in a foxhole who didn't pray.


And from Ambrose Bierce:

"Pray: To ask the laws of the universe to be annulled on behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy."

They usually have to reboot over that one and I can make a clean getaway.

That's my standard response and it never gets an answer. Not in the Nepal thread either.

They usually have their jaw hanging open for a few seconds.

the people that pray in a casino really mean it!

but very neat nonetheless