As an atheist, I shopped at a Christian bookstore today

[BlueStreak]

21. Yes, I think that is true

But I also recognize the normal greeting would be "Have a nice day" which I greatly appreciate and respond in kind. It is a conscious choice to substitute "blessed" for "nice" and we all know exactly what is going on here. There can be an argument whether it rises to the level of deserving a response or whether Christian zealots should be entitled to a free shot whenever they want. I get the argument that it is a misdemeanor, not a felony, on the scale of bad manners in the name of proselytizing.

I did a little searching and discovered that many people are as annoyed by this as I am, and nobody has been able to come up with very good counter-measures. One suggested "Have a scientific day", but saying that preemptively would be pretty dickish to somebody who had no intention to proselytize in the first place.

Someone else suggested "May Cthulhu eat you last." I had to look up that reference, so it surely would sail over the blesser's head.

The best suggestion I have seen is to respond to the "Have a blessed day" with "Live long and prosper". That should do the trick. I expect the blesser to thank me for my kind words because, you know, I'm just sharing good wishes.