With my religious friends, we don’t discuss religion at all. Not Christianity, at least. We went to a Lutheran university so I was around a lot of Christians but they were very low-key and welcoming. We learned about religions around the world and were required to take at least 2 religion classes to graduate. I took one on Judaism in America and the other on Death and the Afterlife in various religions. We talked about these things but not about our beliefs. With the one’s I know believe, I choose not to bring it up. Sometimes someone says they’ll pray for me and it makes me feel a little uncomfortable but I know it is coming from a good place. My one religion scholar friend who is also Catholic shoots me down when I try to talk about my (non)beliefs. He always has a response. I think it isn’t socially acceptable to talk poorly about someone’s religious beliefs but your thoughts are not taken seriously

Thinking about God also makes me uncomfortable sometimes. I don’t recall ever being religious despite going to church sporadically growing up. The only time I can ever remember praying was when my mom was in the hospital dying of a sudden health issue. She entered the hospital Friday night and died in the last minutes of Sunday. I wanted to be religious afterward but I could not force myself. I couldn’t believe like would be necessary to find comfort in ideas like heaven or paradise. I felt somewhat scared and empty when I realized I couldn’t picture anything “after” death and that my relationship with mom was over forever.

It’s essentially different than “God”. Gods are suppossed to intervene in your life and they are an entity (for those who believe), that inteferes with your life from the above and you get to have no say.

Higher Power as I see it, is my motive to create both my own and a collective meaning of life.

Other than that, your question made me reflect about the word “Christ”. Even though I’m not religious I use “Christ!” almost everyday. It’s probably a “cultural” thing, I usually use it to give either emphasis, or show exasperation. In my hometown people tend to call the patron’s saint name quite often and I guess it comes from there. I had to replace it with “Christ” I guess, because where I live now I get weird looks when telling “Oh come on now Saint Spyridon”

Just an edit: The desire to discuss the concept does not compel me to actually do it. I don’t go around starting religious debates with everyone. The cencept just entertains me.