"God bless you" = "Heil Hitler"

I have to start with something that happened to me today.

A best friend and colleague of mine is leaving on an overseas assignment with some of our employers, and will be gone for a year. Now, I know that she's a fundamentalist christian, and I am an atheist, but neither thing gets in the way of our relationship, as we respect each other, and don't try to force any of our beliefs upon each other. Some of you may call me a "weak" atheist for not telling her about how cyclical and ignorant her religious views are, but I would never do that to her, my best friend, as she would never call me a sinner and condemn me to hell, because of that bond we share.

Well, we made our rounds to the local coffee shop. We usually go once a week, and it starts with funny friend-to-friend banter and gossip while we sip on our drinks and eat a snack. A common joke that we have is what drink/snack I bring. I'm not a coffee drinker, or a big fan of scones. Today I happened to have brought Mountain Dew and Cool Ranch Doritos, which hilariously distracted us from our serious discussion time longer than it should have, somewhat just like I am doing right now...

Anyways, we always have serious discussion time after the drink/snack fun-time, which out-lengthens the fun period by about threefold. This usually involves politics, philosophy, topics about what we enjoy/dislike about the world, and many other things.

Today, our last serious discussion before she departs, was about our memories together in the past couple of years. The reminiscing evolved into talking about how we would miss each other this next year. I shared with her that I was worried about my job security, which is currently on the rocks because of cutbacks, and that I might have to look out-of-state or outside this awful country (US) that doesn't seem to have much of a need or respect for biologists with doctorate degrees. I started crying as I shared with her that I think it's possible that I might not see her when she returns, as I might have to look elsewhere for work. At the end of our conversation, she stood and hugged me, also tearing up, with this response, "I will miss you, Stephanie (not actual name). May god bless you."

Now, I was too saddened at seeing her leave to think about it then, but those words sank in later today. "May god bless you." I think she meant well, and it was just her conditioning to say it, but how incredibly insensitive is that phrase in this context? She didn't say that she hoped for my good fortune, or that she hopes that my job situation improves; she only said "god bless you."

Frankly, it almost makes me a little angry, and I would be furious if this wasn't my best friend. I mean, I love my best friend to death, but sometimes her fundie side carries over some insensitive features without her being aware of it. She basically said to me, "may my magic wishes to an imaginary fairy in the sky eventually turn around to give you blessings!" Seriously, what the actual FUCK?? I don't give a single shit that you think that rolling dice with your god can help me. How about you offer some consolation, or express hope in my good fortune? Ugh.

TL;DR "god bless you" is pretty insensitive, if you think about it.

I apologize in advance for the language I expressed in this post. As you can see, this is very emotional for me. I only wish she left me with better words of departure.