Last night at dinner, I made a comment that might have been seen as bigoted or offensive (stating to a person sitting next to me that people who don’t go to church are not bad people, which I said to someone when an atheist relative was sitting near me). The room was noisy and the relative didn’t say anything, but I’m horrified that I said something that may have been very offensive.
I’d like to apologize to the relative, but how do I do it?
I’m closer with the relative’s spouse, so do I ask the spouse, “hey, I may have said something to offend your spouse; ok if I raise it with them?”
Or do I go straight to the person and say, “hey, I used a poor choice of words last night and I really didn’t mean to offend”?
Or something else?
Thanks.