# Do you get the "have a blessed day" invocation where you live (and are you bothered by it)? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 13, 2025, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-the-have-a-blessed-day-invocation-where-you-live-and-are-you-bothered-by-it/1025667 "2025-12-13T15:48:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2025, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-the-have-a-blessed-day-invocation-where-you-live-and-are-you-bothered-by-it/1025667/161 "2025-12-15T03:28:37Z")
I have to wonder why it bothers some people so much that some of us find this phrase objectionable. So much that they write multiple long screeds to push their point of view about how we should be feeling. So what exactly is bothering y’all so much, that we aren’t more welcoming of religious expressions in everyday life? What is getting under your skin? Look inside yourselves, and answer that, if you can. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2025, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-the-have-a-blessed-day-invocation-where-you-live-and-are-you-bothered-by-it/1025667/162 "2025-12-15T04:03:12Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > So what exactly is bothering y’all so much, that we aren’t more welcoming of religious expressions in everyday life? What is getting under your skin? Look inside yourselves, and answer that, if you can. We’re upset that you’re not a good Christian like all real Americans should be. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2025, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-the-have-a-blessed-day-invocation-where-you-live-and-are-you-bothered-by-it/1025667/163 "2025-12-15T04:53:24Z")
I rather think that the people who are upset by the phrase are dealing with different issues than the people who aren’t. When someone says something like that to me, it’s almost always either a meaningless phrase (like “good bless you” after a sneeze) or it’s a genuine expression of good wishes from a religious person who sees the world in those terms. And neither of those is especially upsetting to most of us. But other people are dealing with moderately overt proselytism from cultural Christians, but which i mean, people who are trying to define “good Americans” as “Christian”, whether or not they actually buy into the hard parts of Christianity (like loving your neighbor and turning the other cheek.) And the folks who run into that, who aren’t themselves Christian, are naturally peeved by it. And i suspect most of us know which we are dealing with when it actually happen to us, because there are a lot of social clues (tone of voice, body language, etc.) that accompany the words. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2025, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-the-have-a-blessed-day-invocation-where-you-live-and-are-you-bothered-by-it/1025667/164 "2025-12-15T05:11:43Z")
> [@Sylvanz](#): > > Well said. Religion, and by that I mean conservative Christianity has been slowly creeping into our culture and discourse. I dunno. I see a lot of churches closing down. And the buildings make great micro breweries. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2025, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-the-have-a-blessed-day-invocation-where-you-live-and-are-you-bothered-by-it/1025667/165 "2025-12-15T05:18:32Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > I dunno. I see a lot of churches closing down. There’s two different things going on here. Yes, church membership and professed belief among Americans have been declining for decades. That’s particularly the case among “Mainline Protestant” denominations, which tend to be more moderate to liberal politically and philosophically. At the same time, conservative Christian denominations (mostly Evangelicals and Fundamentalists) have not been declining as rapidly – and those are the churches and members which are now subscribing to the “Christian Nationalism” ideology. They are the ones who are fighting to break down the Constitutional barriers between God and State in the U.S., who believe that the U.S. needs to be an overtly Christian nation, and who have been fighting against laws and societal movements which they oppose on religious grounds (e.g., same-sex marriage, transgender rights, abortion, etc.). They are also the ones who cry “stop them from taking the Christ out of Christmas,” want to put prayer back in public schools, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2025, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-the-have-a-blessed-day-invocation-where-you-live-and-are-you-bothered-by-it/1025667/166 "2025-12-15T06:05:38Z")
Exactly^^ I’m gonna suggest if you are a clerk or cashier or just a random person say “Have a productive day” if you must say something, other than “bye”. I mean, I guess it’s better than hollering at the departing individual “don’t let the door hit you in ass on the way out”. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2025, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-the-have-a-blessed-day-invocation-where-you-live-and-are-you-bothered-by-it/1025667/167 "2025-12-15T06:29:58Z")
> [@Dorjan](#): > > Bothers about as the Lebanese shopkeeper at my local corner store thanking me with a “Ma’a as-salama”. Which is not at all. That means ‘[go] with safety’, which is a secular non-religious way to say bye. Almost sounds like _salām_ _‘alaykum_ ‘peace be upon thee’, which is religious. The two words _salām_ ‘peace’ and _salāmah_ ‘safety’ are closely related but still different. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2025, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-the-have-a-blessed-day-invocation-where-you-live-and-are-you-bothered-by-it/1025667/168 "2025-12-15T08:07:37Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > There’s two different things going on here. I understand your point but I’ve never been cut off in traffic by a member of the Jesus fish crowd. I’m just not put-out by a suggestion of hope for a nice day. If religion gives them hope I’m not going to pee on their cheerios because they wished me well. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2025, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-the-have-a-blessed-day-invocation-where-you-live-and-are-you-bothered-by-it/1025667/169 "2025-12-15T10:57:04Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > So what exactly is bothering y’all so much, that we aren’t more welcoming of religious expressions in everyday life? What is getting under your skin? Look inside yourselves, and answer that, if you can. No problem. Some folk in this thread apparently believe: 1. That are mind-readers who know that it’s not merely an innocent well-wish, it’s a hidden threat to accept Jesus or be packed off to a conversion camp. 2. That their personal paranoia about trivial religious matters should govern how others express themselves in day-to-day interactions. I trust all the good atheists in this thread agree it’s absurd to get upset when someone says “Happy Holidays”, right? Getting upset about “have a blessed day” is _precisely the same thing_. It’s seeing someone exchanging a pleasantry and just instantly _knowing_ that it’s more than that, they’re purposefully pushing a cultural agenda. While it’s understandable that in this cultural moment, people see a phrase spreading and assume it’s associated with other troubling phenomena that are also spreading, I can say I’ve been hearing people use this phrase for 30+ years. Maybe it’s new to you, but it’s not new at all. Language changes, idioms drift. These are troubled times, and we would all benefit from striving not to see threats behind every bush. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2025, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-the-have-a-blessed-day-invocation-where-you-live-and-are-you-bothered-by-it/1025667/170 "2025-12-15T10:58:22Z")
If someone wished me a blessed day, I’d probably say, “Thanks - I could use the bonus to my attack rolls and saving throws!” ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2025, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-the-have-a-blessed-day-invocation-where-you-live-and-are-you-bothered-by-it/1025667/171 "2025-12-15T11:49:59Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > “Have a blessed day” is a wish that the recipient have a good day. While it may have a basis in the idea of a supreme being looking over us it’s hardly a request to believe it. It should be accepted in the spirit it was given. > > There are people in the world who don’t want you to have a nice day. Those are the people you should worry about. Thank you for saying what I was trying to formulate in my head. I would find the expression a bit strange because it’s not something British people use, so would sound particularly evangelical, as opposed to ‘Merry Christmas’ which we all use here without feeling the need to convert our casual religious language to ‘Happy Holidays’. Despite the fact that most of us are non-religious. But I’m certainly not going to get upset by it. Some people are religious, it’s important to them, and it’s a kind expression. They’re not trying to convert me. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2025, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-the-have-a-blessed-day-invocation-where-you-live-and-are-you-bothered-by-it/1025667/172 "2025-12-15T12:11:58Z")
I find it interesting to consider what happened when I was wished “Merry Christmas” by a retail merchant and replied “Happy Hanukkah.” Her face screwed up in distaste and she replied. “That’s a _Jewish_ thing!” So her statement was generic and not to be reacted to as if it has a religious valence, but mine was different? Because her statement was congruent with majority culture but mine reflected a minority identity? Hmm. As to “blessed,” I don’t like it, but nod acknowledgement. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2025, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-the-have-a-blessed-day-invocation-where-you-live-and-are-you-bothered-by-it/1025667/173 "2025-12-15T12:19:44Z")
And again, i observe different life experiences. There was a period when i replied, “happy Hanukkah” when i was wished “Merry Christmas”, and i occasionally got a slightly surprised reaction, but i never got a negative reaction. The same Christian friends who said they’d pray for my husband and wished me blessings often proactively wish me a happy Hanukkah during the holiday season. So i believe the people I’m running into actually are wishing me well (or mouthing a meaningless platitude) and not attempting to push their normative religion on me. And i believe that others in this thread are experiencing something different from what i am experiencing, and we both can tell what’s going on. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2025, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-the-have-a-blessed-day-invocation-where-you-live-and-are-you-bothered-by-it/1025667/174 "2025-12-15T12:21:14Z")
My experience in the Northeast has differed from thr Northwest in this regard. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2025, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-the-have-a-blessed-day-invocation-where-you-live-and-are-you-bothered-by-it/1025667/175 "2025-12-15T12:21:23Z")
The employees at the local bakery have recently taken to saying, “have a great day” - all of them, so they’ve clearly been instructed to do it. I feel like saying, “just for that, I’m determined to have a miserable day.” ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2025, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-the-have-a-blessed-day-invocation-where-you-live-and-are-you-bothered-by-it/1025667/176 "2025-12-15T12:22:12Z")
Backing you up here with an article: [Sip Craft Beer Beneath Stained Glass at These 12 Churches Turned Breweries](https://www.midwestliving.com/breweries-in-churches-11776864) ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2025, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-the-have-a-blessed-day-invocation-where-you-live-and-are-you-bothered-by-it/1025667/177 "2025-12-15T12:23:43Z")
I assume you understand that taking our your annoyance on the employees who’ve been instructed to say that would be unfair. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2025, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-the-have-a-blessed-day-invocation-where-you-live-and-are-you-bothered-by-it/1025667/178 "2025-12-15T12:28:55Z")
While doing nothing gives the owner the idea that it is a great thing to do. What should one do instead? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2025, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-the-have-a-blessed-day-invocation-where-you-live-and-are-you-bothered-by-it/1025667/179 "2025-12-15T12:36:02Z")
Does a retail clerk saying, “have a great day” bother you so much that you _need_ to do something? Then politely ask one of them to tell management that it bother you. And expect management to file it with the customers who are offended the clerk isn’t saying “Merry Christmas”, since after all, it’s between Thanksgiving and New Year, so that’s the “correct” greeting. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2025, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-the-have-a-blessed-day-invocation-where-you-live-and-are-you-bothered-by-it/1025667/180 "2025-12-15T12:38:58Z")
It’s such a weirdly un-English thing to do. Like they’d suddenly been absorbed by the Borg collective of American corporate management. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-the-have-a-blessed-day-invocation-where-you-live-and-are-you-bothered-by-it/1025667.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-get-the-have-a-blessed-day-invocation-where-you-live-and-are-you-bothered-by-it/1025667.md?page=10)