I have written here before about how much I dislike religion. I see it as a manifestly oppressive form of social control which I try to distance myself from, however I can. That means I seek to keep it out of my life wherever possible. However, a small problem cropped up this afternoon. I was having lunch with Dominick when he suddenly sneezed. Of course, social convention dating from the plague dictates that we answer any sneeze with the words “Bless you”, which I did out of both curtesy and habit. Yet it immediately occurred to me how wrong it was for me, a strident atheist, to use such a religious phrase. To be honest it’s something which has been troubling me for a while. The solution quickly hit me though: from now on, whenever I hear anyone sneeze, I will use the Klingon expression “Qa’pla!” Literally meaning “Success! “ it acts like a war cry or good luck cheer. This way I can mark a sneeze but reference Star Trek instead of religion.