God bless you and have a nice day

When a complete stranger says this to you. Do you ignore it, pretend that they didn’t just say that, or do you wish them a good day as well?

“Have a nice day, yourself.”

For me, this salutation doesn’t quite fall under the “wagging their religiosity in my face” category.

YMMV.

God bless you and have a nice day.

My reply.

I beseech you, do not do that, I have concerns on your eternal soul. Since god has a plan, by requesting that god bless me, you are asking god do something. It maybe not in god’s plan, god may have decided to make my day crappy. Thus you may be opposing god. I do not want you to go to hell for such actions.

This logic also works on them praying for me.

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Re: “God bless you and have a nice day.”

Why should that bother me? It is simply their way of being kind, polite, and courteous. I grew up in and live in the Bible Belt. It is a common salutation no different than (in my opinion) saying, “Best wishes,” or, “Take care.” What’s the big deal? I simply don’t understand why some atheists get their panties in a wad over such a petty thing. My typical response is a genuine/sincere smile and maybe a, “Thank you. You have a good day, too.” It is the context/intent of what they are saying that is important, not the actual words themselves. Why be an ass toward somebody who is being nice to you?

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@Tin-Man That is a good point because almost all of the time I don’t get my panties in a wad. But when I encounter some religious jerk, it’s time to play nasty and fuck with their heads.

It’s nice to have a prepared response, keep your powder dry.

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Oh, I can totally agree with THAT. :joy::joy: And I suppose I have a slight advantage in detecting such jerks around here, because my ears are tuned to knowing the subtle differences in how such religious remarks can be made. So, yeah, when somebody is actually trying to be snarky, that’s when it’s time to “play” and have fun with them. :smiling_imp:

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Yeah, this is about as tiny a hill to die on as there is.

I just wish them good day, too.

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Generally I appreciate the intended goodwill of their words. I return their goodwill. “You have a nice day too,” or something similar without references to gods or polite hexes etc.
Such blessings don’t always work. I can still have a very crappy day, which might show that their capricious gods do indeed have their own plans and when they have it in for some mortal, talking to the weather makes no difference.
What spoils a good day for me is the thought that the well-wishing theist will take credit for their blessing and hold it as proof of their caring gods. And if I have a crappy day its all on me and I am on my own.
Have a great secular day everyone!

As far as I can remember, I have only once heard something even remotely close to that here at home, and that was after discussing the origins of morality with a deeply christian person. As we finished up our discussion, this person announced that “I will pray for you”, after which I answered “Yeah, if it makes you feel good about it”, or something to that effect. Other than that: nope. Maybe the deeply religious or the ones in sects or fringe congregations do it internally, but such public displays of religiosity are generally frowned upon. Especially in professional or work related settings. One might still hear it from very old people, though. But if I do, I just let it pass, and do not comment. It’s less of a hassle to just walk away than to engage in a discussion that wastes a lot of time.

Other than that, I have only ever encountered “God bless” with any regularity in the US. Not here in the Nordic countries, and not in the rest of Europe.

Doesn’t really happen here tbh, but I’d smile and wish them a nice day I suppose.

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If they try to “save me” I’d smile even more. :sunglasses: That ship’s definitely sailed…

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What does that mean? is my favorite response when I’m cranky.

lol we all think our ex girlfriend is a long lost true love.

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Yeah, like me realising my ex-wife was a greedy lying gold digging cunt, after she divorced me, and took all my savings months from retirement, as I lost my job and the aviation industry collapsed.

Ship sailed…

:sunglasses:

That reminds me, is anyone au fait with curses?

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…(raising hand)… My wife knows HOW to do them, but she chooses not to practice any of the “Dark Arts”. The cost far outweighs the benefits, you might say. However, she DOES know a couple of folks who have no qualms with such practices. :japanese_ogre:

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We shall all join the DARK SIDE and rule the GALAXY!

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