Sneezing Does Not Require a "Bless You"

Too often one encounters the phrase "Bless you!" after having sneezed.  It is quite odd someone would need to say something like "bless you" after having an irritation to the mucous membranes of the nose or throat resulting in many tiny particles of those mucous membranes flying out of your nose...up to 100 miles per hour. 

 OK, that last bit is pretty amazing but I do not think it requires the overused and unnecessary "bless you."

Perhaps we should look at a brief history of the sneeze. The ancients (Greece) believed the sneeze was an omen (usually good) sent by the gods(source). The exodic Hebrews believed that a sneeze meant you were closest to death "since the act expelled a portion of the breath of life which the Almighty had originally breathed into Adam's nostrils." The Romans responded to a sneeze with "absit omen," to help avoid misfortune falling on the person doing the sneezing.  In the sixth century, Pope Gregory the Great started the "Bless you" phrase after someone sneezed in order to have god help the poor unfortunate person who had met the Bubonic Plague.  Sneezing was a warning sign of the horror to come(source).

So it appears that bless you, at least partially, comes from the fear of dieing from the Bubonic Plague (which don't get me wrong was very nasty and almost impossible to stop at the time) and hoping the sky-daddy will be in your favor as to change his divine plan for you and allow you to live.  Perhaps "cover your mouth and nose" would have done better...I am not a doctor though.

I used to be of the opinion that it was best to reply to a sneeze with "gesundheit" but now I have come to the conclusion it really is not all that necessary to say anything at all.  This response, on Ask Metafilter, by thatbrunette nicely influences and sums up my thoughts:  

santé is French for health; colloquially "to your health". I say that when people sneeze, if I say anything at all. For some reason, to have any sort of remark for a sneeze, but ignoring every other bodily noise a person makes struck me as funny and making little sense.

So that is it.  If you or someone else sneezes then leave it at that...go on doing whatever it is you were doing.  If you happen to be so fortunate as to have a handkerchief or a tissue nearby, then you could be courteous and give that to them.  If they are one of those people who never(and you know they never do) covers their mouth and/or nose-tell them to do so for everyone's health.

Islamic Radicalization of the Young in Britain

I have stumbled across an article on the Telegraph that explains a horrifying situation going on across the other side of the Atlantic. It has become shockingly apparent that young Muslim people in Britain are at serious risk for radicalization to turn their already dangerous belief system into something nastier. A police/government-run program, The Channel Project, has become aware of this issue and is taking action to save these children and others.

The Channel Project was set up in the wake of the 7th July terrorist attacks in London. In June 2008 the project had identified 10 children at risk of being turned to violence. By March last year that figure had increased to 200.

It is very sad yet enraging that there are deluded and irrational Muslim men throwing a stranglehold of superstition on these innocent, young minds. To molest a child's mind to such a degree to have the child write “I want to be a suicide bomber” is inhuman, disgusting, and vile. And this is done for what? For faith? This is what sickens me most about faith...as long as you "deeply" believe something and say it has some sort of meaning to you then it is OK to take such actions that demonstrate that faith and also introduce it to others.

Of course, when Christians here of stories like this they say it's just those damn crazy extremists. I speak of Christians for they make up the majority of religious people in the United States of America and the people I am most likely to occur in my daily life. Unfortunately, it is not easy for Christians to see that any kind of faith can lead to this derangement. They will say that the Muslim extremists are tainting the Islamic religion (the one they already see as "wrong") and that sort of thing would not occur with Christianity. Well, you see, there lies the problem. They are not doing something silly because they are, in fact, acting in accordance with their beliefs.

The whole issue I am so violently bothered by is faith itself. Like Christianity, Islam has certain pieces in its grand 100,000 piece puzzle that call for heinous acts and behaviors. One of the most notorious of these pieces is the all-too-well-known Jihad. Over the past decade, Jihad has been seen in action on both sides of the Atlanic. This "struggle" of deluded hordes will not end any time soon and will only continue to grow as long as people are bowing five times a day and submitting themselves to Allah.

I really hope that The Channel Project can do its part to help the children of Britain and indirectly help children around the world to be safeguarded from the quickly spreading virus that is Islam. I say Islam is the virus, not just extremism, because Islam requires the most important part of religion-faith. Faith is to blame for these young children and teenagers wishing to become suicide bombers. Faith is to blame for much insanity, chaos, and destruction all over Earth.

When we, as humans, overcome faith we will have done ourselves and every other being on this planet the greatest of favors.

Is It OK to Criticize Someone's Religion?

In short, most definitely yes!

It is exceptionally rare that I ever hear that it is not OK to criticize someone's religion from anyone other than a theist. I am always told it is just "too personal" or "not right." I find those ideas to be outright nonsense. Why is it perfectly acceptable to criticize someone's ideas on medicine, politics (oh how nasty it can become!), or scientific theories, but someone's religion is just too delicate and special to be anything but praised? If I took something based completely on faith (absolutely no supportive evidence whatsoever) then I guess I would be quite sensitive to someone challenging my belief...because that is all it would be-a belief.

I am usually seen as "rude", "inconsiderate", "harsh", "arrogant" amongst a host of other not-so-pleasant adjectives and I do not find them all fitting. I might seem "harsh" and "rude" when I challenge nonsense ideas like Christianity and all that it entails such as the sky daddy, angels, resurrections, eternal salvation/damnation etc. if I am challenging someone who actually believes in such things. It all comes down to evidence and reason and the fact that those who believe in Christianity or either of the other two sky daddy superstitions just cannot bear reality.

In regards to the idea that the Bible and its teachings are not literal and have hidden meaning, well, let us just stop right there. Excuses only waste time and breath.

Any idea that challenges reason or tries to replace it by ridding of scientific evidence must and ought to be criticized, for it will be the higher reasoning part of the brain that will help us humans in life rather than the less-evolved, reptilian portion of the brain so commonly utilized by believers.

Please feel free to comment with any ideas you may have.

Thank you for reading.

About

I am starting this blog/journal/diary type “thing” as a way of dealing with and informing others of the not-so-commonly-referred-to-as infectious disease that is religion. Other superstitions and the ideas of a “God” and “Gods” are also vulnerable to the most meticulous examination and rightly-deserved criticism…and will also be considered a disease.
Human rationalism and the freedoms of expression and ideas are under attack by this disease and I will do all that I can to keep it at bay and then some.