# Is it silly of me to get irritated over religious e-mail forwards? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 1, 2004, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-silly-of-me-to-get-irritated-over-religious-e-mail-forwards/277562 "2004-12-01T20:23:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-silly-of-me-to-get-irritated-over-religious-e-mail-forwards/277562/41 "2004-12-02T21:12:35Z")
Sorry…16 month old hit “reply”…this is what the rest of the message said: …legend-y things that can be debunked - then I forward the sender the link to Snopes. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2004, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-silly-of-me-to-get-irritated-over-religious-e-mail-forwards/277562/42 "2004-12-02T22:17:05Z")
> [@Elenia28](#): > > Thank you. Honestly, I didn’t really think they did, but she’s Catholic and she sent it. 😕 And the two statements weren’t really related. I should have seperated them better. I didn’t mean to sound snarky!! It’s true that Catholic people do look to the saints as examples of how to live (Therese’s “little way” is actually pretty popular because the idea is to do even the small mundane things in life in a way that glorifies God), acknowledge the saints as especially blessed people, and ask the saints to pray for them, but no worship should be involved. You’re right that they are just people!! As awful and probably inaccurate as that glurge is, I don’t believe it violates the idea of not worshipping saints; it can be read as Therese’s prayer for others, not like she is imparting anything as a god figure. Anyhoo, apologies for the tangent! ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-silly-of-me-to-get-irritated-over-religious-e-mail-forwards/277562/43 "2004-12-03T00:21:57Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > I’m most offended by the fact that it’s Saint “Therese” (wish I could do the accent marks) of Lisieux. Just bookmark [this handy page](http://www.1728.com/altchar.htm) compiled by Doper **wolf\_meister** and you’ll be able to refer to her as Ste. Thérèse from now on! As for the OP (and anyone else annoyed by glurge): If your e-mail program has a “This is spam” button, you can push that, and your ISP will (or at least should) eventually block messages from the offending party. Naturally, this course of action is not recommended if the transgressor is also regularly sending work-related instructions, or any other correspondence that it behooves you to read… ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-silly-of-me-to-get-irritated-over-religious-e-mail-forwards/277562/44 "2004-12-03T00:40:37Z")
I would actually be happier to get religious email b/c then at least I could delete. **Every day** I come home and some Christian church has put a postcard/tract/flyer/newsletter/whatever on my door informing me to come to Jesus before I spend the afterlife in the fiery pits of hell. Earlier this year someone ripped my Ganpati off the door, shredded it and stuck a little repent-ye-heathen-Jesus-be-the-only-true way tract in its place. Yeah, destroying my idols are going to make me ever-so-much-more likely to convert. Oh well, Ganesh is the god of theatre and the arts so I’m hoping he smites whoever did it with a really bad production of Jesus Christ Superstar. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-silly-of-me-to-get-irritated-over-religious-e-mail-forwards/277562/45 "2004-12-03T02:04:24Z")
> [@anu-la1979](#): > > I would actually be happier to get religious email b/c then at least I could delete. **Every day** I come home and some Christian church has put a postcard/tract/flyer/newsletter/whatever on my door informing me to come to Jesus before I spend the afterlife in the fiery pits of hell. Earlier this year someone ripped my Ganpati off the door, shredded it and stuck a little repent-ye-heathen-Jesus-be-the-only-true way tract in its place. Yeah, destroying my idols are going to make me ever-so-much-more likely to convert. Oh well, Ganesh is the god of theatre and the arts so I’m hoping he smites whoever did it with a really bad production of Jesus Christ Superstar. That’s nothing. Right after I moved back to PA, I got a nice little gift bag stuffed with two dish towels and some other stuff, including tracts. What, I’m supposed to wipe my sins away? 😕 The symbolism of the dish towels continues to elude me. Robin ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-silly-of-me-to-get-irritated-over-religious-e-mail-forwards/277562/46 "2004-12-03T14:30:09Z")
> [@Elenia28](#): > > I didn’t tell them like that. She already knew I was atheist. In the e-mail, i didn’t even mention religious forwards, I put: > > “Please don’t send any chain letters to my work e-mail. Thanks.” > And I think being atheist does have plenty to do with the merits of my objection, even though I would never overtly state it. Many religious people would feel the same if I started sending them stuff about the various inconsistencies of the Bible. I \*know \* I would get this reaction: “Didn’t you know I was Christian? Why are you sending this to me?” But since I’m atheist, I don’t have a leg to stand on? You are missing my point. I’ll try one more time to explain it but I’m getting much too frustrated by this. I’m not saying that being atheist doesn’t give you a leg to stand on. I’m saying it doesn’t give you an ADDITIONAL leg to stand on. It is sufficient that the e-mails are annoying, time-wasting, unrelated to work and religous. They don’t need to be “religious in a way that I am not” to be objectionable. Imagine I start sending out e-mails which encourage people to simplify their wardrobes by only wearing black and white. Some people who wear colors would probably be annoyed, some might be amused. Some who regularly wear mostly black and white might be annoyed by the time-wasting attributes of the e-mail, as well as alarmed by the notion that wearing only black and white would become more popular. Others might like the notion and want more people to read the e-mails and be convinced. Some people would send me e-mail asking to be taken off my e-mail list. They would be equally justified in doing so _regardless_ of what color clothes they normally wear. ---
**Author:** ![Greenback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/2bfe46/32.png) [@Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-silly-of-me-to-get-irritated-over-religious-e-mail-forwards/277562/47 "2004-12-03T15:07:02Z")
These emails are quite annoying and end up in my trash. I won’t even bother to read them. My biggest source of stuff like this is my own father and he won’t take no for an answer. I talked to him and he seems to think he’s doing the right thing and won’t stop. Now daddy’s email end up in the bulk folder where I can pull the few that contain something other than chain mail back to the inbox and the rest automatically get deleted. Irritating?-Yes. Worth getting into a fight over? No. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-silly-of-me-to-get-irritated-over-religious-e-mail-forwards/277562/48 "2004-12-03T16:20:45Z")
> [@C3](#): > > On a bit of a hijack…Lili Taylor starred in a movied called [Household Saints](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107152/) about a girl who’s obsessed with St. Therese. It was pretty good. > > Anyway, I usually ignore emails like these, unless they’re urban legen Man, but that movie was disturbing, huh? A very excellent film. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-silly-of-me-to-get-irritated-over-religious-e-mail-forwards/277562/49 "2004-12-03T20:42:10Z")
I didn’t realize that St. Therese had email. Huh. I wonder what email God uses. BigKahuna@Almight(dot)net ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2004, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-silly-of-me-to-get-irritated-over-religious-e-mail-forwards/277562/50 "2004-12-03T20:45:20Z")
Not to brag, but _I_ went to St. Terese of the Little Flower School now a National Shrine of the Little Flower…woooooo. Played tag inside the church once…good times. Good unsupervised times. I am much better now. Much better. ---
**Author:** ![Lillith\_Fair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@Lillith\_Fair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lillith_Fair)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2004, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-silly-of-me-to-get-irritated-over-religious-e-mail-forwards/277562/51 "2004-12-04T00:00:22Z")
I hate getting those e-mails. I loved Eve’s response. Unfortunately, I get them from some nice people who I like so don’t want to hurt their feelings. This one person sends me e-mails that I originally got months before. She is always so far behind. Once someone sent me this thing about a saint and how we were supposed to pray to it. We are both Protestant. So I hit reply to all and said “I’m not Catholic.” This totally confused her. She had no idea why I said that. Well, why would a Protestant pray to a saint? We don’t have saints. The same person also said once on March 17, “I can’t believe that Rev. X didn’t even MENTION St. Patrick’s Day!” It was so weird. St. Patrick’s day has nothing to do with anything that is United Methodist. But, oddly, there are some UM churches named after saints. Like St. Matthew’s. Why is that? Someone please look this up and answer. I really really hate getting e-mails about how Madelaine Murray O’Hare is doing so-and-so and it will force “Touched by an Angel” off the air. I do have to respond to that one. #1–SHE’S BEEN DEAD FOR YEARS. #2–Shows are taking off the air because THEY STOP MAKING MONEY. Of course, can I still say that with all the new thought police taking over our lives? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-silly-of-me-to-get-irritated-over-religious-e-mail-forwards/277562/52 "2004-12-05T21:12:37Z")
> [@Eureka](#): > > You are missing my point. I’ll try one more time to explain it but I’m getting much too frustrated by this. Hmm. I thought we were having a discussion. Then if you are getting frustrated, it’s better that you drop it, because you are stuck to your point and won’t agree to see my side of it, either. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-silly-of-me-to-get-irritated-over-religious-e-mail-forwards/277562/53 "2004-12-05T23:53:11Z")
I’ve been following this thread with interest. I am a strong atheist, but not an evangelical atheist or anti-religious type; I wish to take nothing away from anyone, I wish only to be left alone with my own beliefs. And as I read the thread, I was thinking that this kind of stuff doesn’t really bother me, as long as it’s at a low level; faith is very important to many people and this is how they express their love and friendship, so why should I begrudge them that? As long as they aren’t being aggressive about it and following up and bugging me to tell them what I thought about their witnessing or whatever, I don’t really mind. And now I get to see how I measure up to my beliefs about my tolerance: One of my aunts just mailed me a DVD for Christmas called “Jesus: Fact or Fiction?” The DVD case says “Tough questions. Compelling answers,” and “An interactive journey: explore the evidence,” and so on. “Is there historical evidence for Jesus?” reads the blurb on the back, followed by promises about the views of scientists, historians, philosophers, and theologians being shared on the disc (in that order). Publisher is “Inspirational Films.” Wonder what the answer to the title will be. At first, I laughed aloud. My family doesn’t really know me as well as they might, because I keep my beliefs fairly private. Part of it is that I don’t want to be subjected to endless harangues on the subject, but part of it also is that I recognize that my atheism could be perceived as an attack on their faith, even though from my own perspective that’s not what it is at all. I believe what I believe; I let other people believe what they believe. That’s it. Even so, I know that there’s a subset of religious people, which includes many of those in my family, will perceive my rejection of faith as a rejection of _them._ So in the interest of peace, I don’t bring it up, and thus I get this ridiculous DVD. But still, maybe I’ll watch it. Religion fascinates me, even though it holds no appeal. I’m always interested in what religious people say about their own beliefs. Even so, I’m a little worried that my aunt will ask me what I thought about it the next time she sees me. I’ll have to come up with an appropriate dodge so I’m not seen as throwing my “there is no God” philosophy into her face, but similarly so I’m not drawn into a long spell of witnessing. Tough question. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-silly-of-me-to-get-irritated-over-religious-e-mail-forwards/277562/54 "2004-12-06T01:09:24Z")
> [@Elenia28](#): > > Hmm. I thought we were having a discussion. Then if you are getting frustrated, it’s better that you drop it, because you are stuck to your point and won’t agree to see my side of it, either. Actually, I’ve reconsidered the matter and decided that in my zeal to make you see my point of view, I’ve overstated my case. While I still firmly believe that anyone _regardless of religious beliefs or lack thereof_ should have the right to request that e-mails such as these not be sent to them, I am willing to grant you the notion that one might be more inclined to expect that someone who is atheist would not appreciate Christian e-mails or that someone who is Christian might appreciate them. I still don’t like the “I’m an atheist and she knows it so I shouldn’t have to put up with silly religious e-mails” attitude that I percieved in at least one of your earlier posts. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-silly-of-me-to-get-irritated-over-religious-e-mail-forwards/277562/55 "2004-12-06T04:40:24Z")
> [@Keapon Laffin](#): > > Sign up their work email for every porn site you can find! > 😛 > Nothing a devout religious person likes more than finding out that a goat can do… _what?!?_ And since you know she’s catholic and religious, there are porn sites that specialize in showing what a priest and altar boy(s) can do, a naught bishop and choirgirls, nuns & monks, etc. But seriously, talk to your boss about this. Don’t give any names (this time), just say that some people have been forwarding this kind of stuff to the company emails, and that it wastes your time and distracts you from important business-related email. Shouldn’t we have some policy about using company email only for company business? And maybe it’s time for him to remind everyone about this policy. Since he’ll remind _everyone_ of the policy, he’s not singling out her. But you can! Bounce that email back to her, with a copy of the company policy attached. On the top write “I think this email from you could be considered a violation of the attached company policy. Please be careful in the future. I’d hate to see a nice person like you get in trouble over this.” That should take care of it (unless she has no brains at all). And you’ve done it all privately, with nothing publicly directed to her at all. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-silly-of-me-to-get-irritated-over-religious-e-mail-forwards/277562/56 "2004-12-06T15:09:37Z")
> [@Eureka](#): > > Actually, I’ve reconsidered the matter and decided that in my zeal to make you see my point of view, I’ve overstated my case. While I still firmly believe that anyone _regardless of religious beliefs or lack thereof_ should have the right to request that e-mails such as these not be sent to them, I am willing to grant you the notion that one might be more inclined to expect that someone who is atheist would not appreciate Christian e-mails or that someone who is Christian might appreciate them. > > I still don’t like the “I’m an atheist and she knows it so I shouldn’t have to put up with silly religious e-mails” attitude that I percieved in at least one of your earlier posts. Apologies. What i meant, and should have expressly stated was, “I’m an atheist and she knows it and _she’s my friend and respects me_ so I shouldn’t have to put up with silly religious e-mails _from her_” And perhaps that’s even too much to ask, but that was what I meant. Anyway, what is so wrong with this attitude in the first place? Why does it bother you so much? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-silly-of-me-to-get-irritated-over-religious-e-mail-forwards/277562/57 "2004-12-06T18:04:59Z")
I think perhaps because you don’t have to be an atheist to be annoyed by this stuff. No one should have to put up with that kind of crap. That’s all. It sounds like you’re saying, “Oh, well if the person is religious, then they have less of a right to be annoyed.” I don’t BELIEVE that’s what you meant, but it could be construed that way. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-silly-of-me-to-get-irritated-over-religious-e-mail-forwards/277562/58 "2004-12-06T18:22:03Z")
**Guin** ’s got it. I totally respect the position of _this particular person_ should know you are an atheist and won’t appreciate this kind of e-mail. I don’t think atheism by itself is neccessary or sufficient to make a generic person assume you won’t appreciate such e-mail, mostly because it seems to invalidate my right as a Christian to object to time-wasting glurgy but _Christian_ e-mail. Also, I have a dreadful feeling that I was PMSing badly the day I wrote that other post . Thus my natural irritation was transformed into raging fury. I apologize for not recognizing it sooner, say before submitting that reply. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-silly-of-me-to-get-irritated-over-religious-e-mail-forwards/277562/59 "2004-12-06T18:38:35Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > But seriously, talk to your boss about this. Don’t give any names (this time), just say that some people have been forwarding this kind of stuff to the company emails, and that it wastes your time and distracts you from important business-related email. Shouldn’t we have some policy about using company email only for company business? And maybe it’s time for him to remind everyone about this policy. > > Since he’ll remind _everyone_ of the policy, he’s not singling out her. Excellent advice. And it should consider all chain emails, not just religious ones. I’m Catholic as well, but I do not advocate expressing it in chain emails. I feel the same way **OtakiLoki** feels about it…it reduces God to a tool. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-silly-of-me-to-get-irritated-over-religious-e-mail-forwards/277562.md?page=2)