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.

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

You gave the perfect response under the circumstances.

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.

An elderly lady seeking human contact....what exactly would be served by upsetting her?

Don't sweat it. You listened to a nice old lady and gave her reason to keep smiling and feel at peace.

I'm all for going Hitch on a theist's ass when they knock on my door, or on the internet.

No reason to fight all the time.

I think you handled it exactly right. No need to pick a fight with a little old lady in the park

In that circumstance I would have probably done much as you did - murmur something non-religious but non-confrontational.

No point picking a fight with an old lady, you did fine

My son's mom and I don't agree on much, but we often just say Akunamatata, at the end of a dispute.

Yeah, I am always up for a scrap with a godbot. When presented with an opportunity, I love to throw a subtle logic bomb their direction.

Despite, some fights worth fighting, take time to enjoy life.

You did the right thing. Nature painted a picture for you to enjoy. She thanked a sky fairy. So what? Akunamatata.

Same thing. No point in creating disturbance where you don’t need to. She was pleasant enough to make conversation. She wasn’t proselytising or canvassing just being a friendly human being.

By setting up a debate which she may have no concept off will just set off stress factors in yourself for no reason. Just acknowledge the beautiful day regardless of whose construct it is.

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..

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

Perfect passive/aggressive response...

Aren't allergies evidence against "intelligent design"?

I find I am unable to give words that sound like agreement in these kinds of situations...but I don't wish to be unkind to someone who is expressing nice thoughts (from their point of view).... so I usually say something along the lines of "I hope you enjoy the rest of this gorgeous day".

It's a problem for me too, and people like that bring it. There's so much wrong with it it's mind numbing and it makes me want to scream. One of these days I just might go off on someone and it'll be some sweet little old lady... Actually I might have said "Whatever" or "Yes, it is a very nice day". Her second comment upon exit was a clever "I won this one" to which I would have said "Now wait just a minute!" (Just kidding). Everyone here is being so evolved and above it all; how honorable and decent and lazy and better than someone who might smile and say "I'm not religious but that shouldn't matter, right? It's still a beautiful day." Just because you disagree with someone doesn't mean you have to go to war with them, or be confrontational or start a debate on the street, even though they instigated it. Just have some integrity and be true to yourself. The alternative is not to, and bend to all these little tricks to show your colors: are you one of them? It's a little arrogant that it doesn't matter to them. They either assume you're a believer but if you're not, fuck you, you should have been. At this point in human evolution they could at least try to be more open to the possibility that not everyone is just like them and ASK first if you're a believer. If you are it won't insult you. Is it too much of an imposition to expect them to be at minimum at least as polite as they expect us to be? That's not too much to ask, to meet me half way. They're still free to say "Well, Jesus still loves you anyway and God made the sun and the moon and blah, blah, blah." Whatever. And there you have the real reason they opened their pie-hole in the first place. They're just using a nice day as a pretext to barf their belief on you. (I'm being a little tongue-in-cheek here. Learn to laugh okay?)

So look, I don't go looking for these type of questions but if you're going to put them on here and I stumble across them, I'm going to be honest and open and give an answer that isn't just p.c., which to me is usually b.s. I'm probably just as annoyed that I do keep running across these here, where I come to be away from pod people and not have to keep explaining that I'm atheist and it's okay.

What would you gain by being confrontational? As it was, you had what appeared to be a pleasant interchange with this fellow human being. I see nothing wrong with your responses.

Having said this, I also understand the feeling you experienced. The one that would annoy me was when someone - especially from a business - would say, "Have a blessed day!" In thinking up come backs (similar to what you commented about) I thought it might be fun to respond with something like, "May yours continue to evolve." I have yet to say it to anyone, but I have often thought it when that annoying phrase is uttered.

Meanwhile, In Dallas today, we had a tornado warning.

How 'bout: "Thank him? Thank me. I had to sacrifice three of my best goats to get this weather!"

As the spouse of a pastor who did her thing in mostly conservative rural Montana I have been constantly confronted with this dilema. For the most part I did exactly as you did. I figured that I was no more likely to change their mind than they were to change mine.

I'm not sure I was right! Thank God etc. sounds kindly and innocuous but really it is intended to be in your face and intimidating. Too often the hidden message is something like, "I'm a believer and you should be too if you know what is good for you. Maybe the best response is the one my father often gave, "Thank God I'm an Athiest."

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.

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 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.

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.

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