To me it came across as purely figurative. IMHO the usual phrases like "thank God it's not raining" are pretty much detached from the religious context.
"Thank God it's not raining" is completely different from saying "... the greatest gifts God has given me."
The first is just a frivolous small talk type comment. Non-religious people would say this. It's part of the common US vocabulary. The second is much more serious, and the speaker is actually thanking God for how he is. A non-religious person would never say it.
Religious people do this type of thing all the time in the US. Just look at 1 example- sports. The amount of American pro-athletes who are religious is astounding. Many athletes will seriously thank God after doing something well in a sporting event.
I'm very very anti-theist and I still have a lot of Christians on my Facebook, and some of them are constantly thanking God or praising Jesus for some good thing that happened in their life.
The amount of cars that have religious stickers on them is incredible. Crosses, the Jesus fish, some Biblical reference, a Christian brand, etc- you see them constantly. Maybe it's not like that in the Bay Area, but that is an exception. I live in Germany now and I've counted a total of TWO cars in 2 years that had any kind of Religious sticker.
So, yeah, Christianity is everywhere in the US. I pray for the day that this is not true.
> The amount of American pro-athletes who are religious is astounding. Many athletes will seriously thank God after doing something well in a sporting event....I live in Germany now and I've counted a total of TWO cars in 2 years that had any kind of Religious sticker.
FWIW you will see plenty of religious displays in European soccer. Look at the biggest sporting event in Europe this past week: El Clasico between Real Madrid and Barcelona. Watch when Neymar scores a goal and kneels down on the ground and points up at the sky and says thank you (or something like that). Unfortunately Messi didn't score, but he would have done something similar though less dramatic. Granted these guys aren't Europeans, but they're not North Americans either. And other European footballers do similar things.
> The amount of American pro-athletes who are religious is astounding. Many athletes will seriously thank God after doing something well in a sporting event.
This is just a very clever thought pattern to confirm the American mythos of the self-made man and avoid giving credit to teammates, coaches, etc. "God made me great" is a way to take credit for yourself while maintaining the appearance of humility (no one can really call you out on it, either, because it's just your religion). Politicians use it all the time too.
Is it necessary to dismiss belief as somehow self-serving? A bragging athlete is arrogant; a humble one is secretly scheming to take credit. How do you win in that world-view?
If they were truly humble, they'd be thanking their teammates, not a man in the sky. It's offensive to thank god for your touchdown instead of the offensive line. The hand of god didn't descend from the heavens to open that hole you ran through.
I don't think athletes, or anyone else, who express religious feelings are necessarily doing what you say, but I've upvoted you because I agree that some of them are.
Why does it hurt your feelings so much? If I had this kind of prejudice and contempt in my heart for an entire group of people, I'd keep it to myself. It's kind of embarrassing to air it publicly like that.
My problem is when your religion encroaches on my life or on others. Their backwards out-dated religious views influence policy in education, health care, and civil rights. Not to mention the countless acts of religious violence and hate that take place daily all across the world. That is why I am adamantly anti-theist and not afraid to admit it.
Is it different in US?