"Bless you" when you sneeze is a carryover from European superstitions that sneezing made you vulnerable to demonic possessions. In my region of the US, it's pretty common to say, "Geizundheit!" instead of "Bless you," and a lot of people don't even know it's German/Yiddish for "God bless you."
I think that "bless you" for sneezing is kind of like the derivation of "Good-bye" from "God-be-with-you": it's an encoded linguistic history without actual [eta: current] religious significance. But I'm making this distinction because I agree with the religious implications of all of your other examples.
I do think, though, that there's not simply a religious privilege but specifically a *Christian* religious privilege in the West, and I say this as someone who identifies as both Jewish and atheist. And who recognizes that "Jewish" is in fact relatively privileged in the US! But other religions tend to receive the legal protection and sanction of religions only insofar as they resemble Christianity.
One of the things I like to point out, as well, as an example of the ingrained Christian cultural default, is that the weekend is Saturday and Sunday to allow for the Christian Sabbath and a day to prepare for it. This is actively inconvenient for Jews and Muslims, for whom the Sabbath starts at Friday sundown. Predominantly Muslim countries will make arrangements to make Ramadan's daytime fasts easier, whereas Muslims in predominantly Christian countries often have to struggle to make arrangements. Additionally, I know of (recent!) U.S. court cases which have denied recognition to Native American religious ceremonies because the elements of Native American religion did not conform to the court's assumptions of religion -- which were explicitly Christian.
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regna
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-07 01:28 pm (UTC)I think that "bless you" for sneezing is kind of like the derivation of "Good-bye" from "God-be-with-you": it's an encoded linguistic history without actual [eta: current] religious significance. But I'm making this distinction because I agree with the religious implications of all of your other examples.
I do think, though, that there's not simply a religious privilege but specifically a *Christian* religious privilege in the West, and I say this as someone who identifies as both Jewish and atheist. And who recognizes that "Jewish" is in fact relatively privileged in the US! But other religions tend to receive the legal protection and sanction of religions only insofar as they resemble Christianity.
One of the things I like to point out, as well, as an example of the ingrained Christian cultural default, is that the weekend is Saturday and Sunday to allow for the Christian Sabbath and a day to prepare for it. This is actively inconvenient for Jews and Muslims, for whom the Sabbath starts at Friday sundown. Predominantly Muslim countries will make arrangements to make Ramadan's daytime fasts easier, whereas Muslims in predominantly Christian countries often have to struggle to make arrangements. Additionally, I know of (recent!) U.S. court cases which have denied recognition to Native American religious ceremonies because the elements of Native American religion did not conform to the court's assumptions of religion -- which were explicitly Christian.