In situations like that I try not to be confrontational either. I just agree with a yup like you and move on. It's not worth the hustle. The exception being when they say that and then try to give you a pamphlet or something of that sort if I have time I go into the whole I'm an atheist thing and what not but most likely I just say no thank you and move on

Well, "Die you gravy sucking pig" is probably too severe, I guess"yup" is good enough.

I accept it and move on. Even when told to have a blessed day. We may not share beliefs, but I love and respect them nonetheless, and if they wish me that, I will always accept it.

Why argue with an old lady out enjoying the day? IMO, you did the right thing. No point in getting bitter and fighting everyone who uses a figure of speech to express happiness or contentment. Live and let live.

Good question. "I'm sorry," the x-ray technician replied when I said "I'm an atheist."

Hoped this would shut him up. Then I asked him to stop talking about his God.

He acted like being an atheist is a terminal disease.

Damned if you do; damned if you don't. Either way, you get a lecture.

If I'm not careful, I'll add 'Thank God' myself.

Old habits die hard.

I do the same thing a lot, sometimes it's just not worth it to me to start that conversation. Most times it's a losing battle. If they are intuitive enough, they can tell by the tone in my voice that I don't agree.

You could ruin your day and beat your head against the wall and say something, or you could ignore her unless you won't able to sleep at night if you don't. You could say, "there is no god, " you could say "fuck god," but you're only doing it to make your self feel better about not responding. Regardless of what you say, her opinion won't change. Or, if you wanted to really make a statement, you could have said, "yeah god gave me these allergies."

I would've said, "who dat? " then walked away...

I would agree it’s a lovely day but I won’t be thanking a mythical sky fairy since I am an atheist. If that is enough to piss someone off then too bad.

I won’t be in collusion with her delusion. I don’t know why I need to be sensitive to her beliefs when she isn’t to mine. If atheists don’t stand up for their beliefs and let people know who they are, then the fakes win.

Perfect passive/aggressive response...

Aren't allergies evidence against "intelligent design"?

How is "Yep" confrontational?

Your answer was fine. No reason to go any deeper than that with a stranger.

Same way you did

Probably the same way. She's elderly, not up for debating, she's locked into her fairy tale world and too old to change.

literally the same thing happened to me on Friday. got into an elevator and this elderly lady said. it is a beautiful day. i said yes it is. with all smiles. then comes "praise the lord for this beautiful day" and by this time the elevator has reached the 3rd floor where i would get off. i replied good day to you too and go on with my day.

I'm not going to rain on some random stranger's parade. If they wanna praise god or zeus or ishtar, then I'm going to wish them well.

I feel so sorry for you guys. I would literally freak if anyone said that to me. Even as a mental health professional, I would imagine they were unwell. It would be sooo weird in UK. It is far more likely that people start ranting about football or Brexit or brown people...to which I would not care about protecting their feelings!

"Whatever" or "if you say so."

I would say, which god is it you are talking about?

Let me offer up a different perspective. This god of theirs is a personification of the universe in total. It was/is the answer to the question "what caused that?". Now, of course, we get to subtract from that "black box" the processes that we understand - which still leaves a huge array of things beyond our present comprehension. That's their god and it's certainly a viable object for their praise. They may not know how to explain or describe what it is, but they're thankful for it. That's a good thing. For each of us that black box may be a little different. But we all have one. Some just have different terms for it.

To be honest, that kind of thing doesn't really bother me.
I know, even though I disagree with what they say, they have the best intentions.
Some even just say that kind of thing out of habit, even I do sometimes.

So, I'll rather just say "yep", or "thanks" if the words were towards me.
There have been times where I got all confrontational. but in the end I look back and think I was being an ass to someone that was just wishing good will toward me.

I would have said something bringing back to my unpredictable hippie days. Something crazy and off the wall. How about a poem:
God is wonderful, Yahweh too,
But that darn Allah belongs in a zoo.

Give her something to think about..

You gave the perfect response under the circumstances.

It was a good response. She was saying it with good intentions; she wasn’t trying to be disrespectful or acting like a jerk. That simple “yep” was appropriate.