229
votes
How can I offer my prayers to an atheist colleague facing a serious personal situation?
I am an atheist myself so I'm going to answer it as if you would say it to me:
I'm an atheist, which means that heaven/hell/praying has no value (good nor bad, just void) to me. The act of praying is ...
- 5,723
129
votes
How can I offer my prayers to an atheist colleague facing a serious personal situation?
As Martjin describes it, I'm a more "extreme" atheist, in that I probably would be offended by a Christian offering to pray for me, especially if they knew I was an atheist. So I offer this as an ...
- 2,889
113
votes
Accepted
How to politely handle support requests which lack some basic understanding?
Anyone with a basic grasp on interpersonal skills wouldn't be posting this question.
This title is unequivocally rude. Just to be clear, this is not my real answer, it's the example that proves the ...
- 6,386
83
votes
How can I offer my prayers to an atheist colleague facing a serious personal situation?
I am an atheist who recently lost 4 close family members in a very short period. Most of my friends and family are theist and specifically Christian so this scenario came up a lot and I wanted to ...
- 799
70
votes
Accepted
How to help a friend through a rough breakup when his actions are testing the limits of my patience?
I have been in your position but never in such an extreme case. You must understand that he is going through a tough emotional time and he isn't really thinking how it might affect your friendship. ...
- 5,065
62
votes
How to politely handle support requests which lack some basic understanding?
Anyone with basic understanding of how Y works would be able to infer
that from the examples. I can’t teach you how Y works.
That's pretty rude. You're basically using a polite way of saying "If ...
- 10.7k
51
votes
How can I offer my prayers to an atheist colleague facing a serious personal situation?
If this comes off harshly, I apologize. I’m merely trying to state my often discussed (between friends and family) thoughts and opinions succinctly; though brevity sounds sharp.
I’m a Christian, and ...
- 619
47
votes
Accepted
How can I politely refuse to help classmates with their work?
I had to face the same problem with my classmates in my university often. After 2 years I decided to be clear about it. What I did was:
Do my work without telling them that I have already done it.
...
- 590
43
votes
How can I offer my prayers to an atheist colleague facing a serious personal situation?
Don't talk about your prayer life in public, in general. Jesus said not to.
Besides the points that some other people have made about informing him of your desire to pray for him making him ...
- 548
29
votes
How can I offer my prayers to an atheist colleague facing a serious personal situation?
Don't !
Others have commented already along this line, but I feel they are pulling their punches. I'll phrase the following as friendly as I can, but without dilluting the message.
I am a militant ...
- 7,150
27
votes
Warning someone that they have been suckered into a scam
This is a tough one and the blow back from Anne might include her cutting you out of her life.
My Story
A little over a decade ago I was involved in a religious cult and I completely bought into it ...
- 1,293
27
votes
How can I offer my prayers to an atheist colleague facing a serious personal situation?
I'd like to offer my opinion as a seminarian.
"is it rude to offer prayers to an atheist"? How would you feel if a Buddhist offered a meditation for you? Or a Zoroastrian offered help in their ...
- 32.3k
25
votes
Accepted
Ask for support with weight loss, without sounding tedious
For starters, congratulations on committing to be healthier - it's a great gift to yourself.
The dynamics between work and home are different so I'll answer them slightly differently. The bottom line ...
- 2,123
22
votes
Accepted
How can I email a former schoolmate who starred in porn if she needs my help, without being creepy or spooking her?
This is a tricky situation. Your nephew found out not because she told him, but because he overheard some strangers' conversation and went online checking. I don't think something good could possibly ...
- 14.3k
22
votes
How can I offer my prayers to an atheist colleague facing a serious personal situation?
Another atheist here.
As other answers have already discussed, different atheists will feel differently about this kind of thing. I won't rehash what those answers have said, but I do want to add: ...
- 989
21
votes
How can I politely refuse to help classmates with their work?
Realize that you are also saying no for their own sake.
To me, it seems that you are not at all unwilling to help. You will definitely help them if they face an actual difficulty. What you are ...
- 1,305
19
votes
Accepted
How to efficiently and effectively decline help, being somewhat rude if necessary
After two "no thanks" (probably even after one) I would stop smiling and say
honestly, this is something I can do without help and enjoy doing. By insisting on helping you're making me feel weak ...
- 45k
16
votes
How can I offer my prayers to an atheist colleague facing a serious personal situation?
First of all, I'm a strong atheist myself,
But even I, who is strongly against theism, I definitely wouldn't be offended if anyone declared that he prayed for me. Even if I think that it's a waste of ...
- 161
15
votes
Accepted
What is "holding space" and how do I do it?
In my experience "holding space" is essentially a rebranding of empathetic response. It's something most people do naturally under the right circumstances, but it may require more effort for some ...
- 54.9k
15
votes
How can I offer my prayers to an atheist colleague facing a serious personal situation?
Gary Chapman wrote in The Five Love Languages about how to express compassion.
Specifically, he talks about the different ways in which people express compassion. It's important to understand that ...
- 933
13
votes
Accepted
How do you maintain relations after you've received help from an acquaintance?
But any more questions than that feels forced.
This is the key point! It feels forced to you... and that’s what it often is. We feel compelled to return a favor after someone has helped us. We don’t ...
- 3,368
12
votes
Accepted
How can I help my partner with her body image without offending her?
This isn't your place to do.
The last thing she wants to hear from her own partner is that she is unhealthy and needs to diet. It sounds like, from what you write, that her issue is mostly with her ...
- 10.7k
12
votes
Accepted
How can I tell a friend that their self-published book needs editing?
Firstly I'd ask yourself - are you willing to edit it for him?
After all:
You think they have a worthwhile message
You are more than capable as you have multiple degrees
You care enough about their ...
- 27k
12
votes
How do I politely refuse doing a favor for a friend?
I'm deaf, and American sign language is my first language. I've worked on my English extensively thanks to my mom. This made it so my English is noticeably better than much of my deaf peers. I often ...
- 3,571
10
votes
How to efficiently and effectively decline help, being somewhat rude if necessary
I was raised to offer to help, so I've probably been seen this way from time to time... My grandmother was the type of woman who would smack her grandsons for not holding the door for a lady.
That ...
- 54.9k
10
votes
Accepted
How to constructively engage a female friend with possible body image problems?
I do have some experience with Anorexia nervosa and will try to provide some help, although request caution with everything a stranger on the Internet writes.
There are two main problems you are ...
9
votes
How can I help my partner with her body image without offending her?
It sounds like she may be starting to redevelop the symptoms of her eating disorder - which, contrary to popular belief, is possible whether you are thin or not. As such I am going to take a hard ...
- 588
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible