GaryP

I work with the woman who sent this e-mail. It was addressed to all our co-workers and some others I don't know;

>
> > In light of the many perversions and jokes we
> > send along to one another
> > for a laugh, this is a little different:
> >
> > This joke today is not intended to be a joke,
> > it's not intended to be
> > funny, it's intended to get you thinking.
> >
> > Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the
> > Early Show and Jane
> > Clayson asked her "How could God let something
> like
> > this happen?" (regarding
> > the attacks on Sept. 11 ).
> >
> > Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and
> > insightful response. She said
> > "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as
> > we are, but for years
> > we've been telling God to get out of our schools,
> to
> > get out off our
> > government and to get out of our lives. And being
> > the gentleman He is, I
> > believe He has calmly backed out. How can we
> expect
> > God to give us His
> > blessing and His protection if we demand He leave
> us
> > alone?"
> >
> > In light of recent events...terrorists attack,
> > school shootings, etc. I
> > think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she
> > was murdered, her body
> > found recently) complained she didn't want prayer
> in
> > our schools, and we
> > said OK.
> >
> > Then someone said you better not read the Bible
> > in school... the Bible
> > says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal,
> and
> > love your neighbor as
> > yourself. And we said OK.
> >
> > Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank
> > our children when they
> > misbehave because their little personalities would
> > be warped and we might
> > damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son
> committed
> > suicide). We said an
> > expert should know what he's talking about. And we
> > said OK.
> >
> > Then someone said teachers and principals
> better
> > not discipline our
> > children when they misbehave. The school
> > administrators said no faculty
> > member in this school better touch a student when
> > they misbehave because we
> > don't want any bad publicity, and we surely don't
> > want to be sued (there's a
> > big difference between disciplining, touching,
> > beating, smacking,
> > humiliating, kicking, etc.). And we said OK.
> >
> > Then someone said, let's let our daughters have
> > abortions if they want,
> > and they won't even have to tell their parents.
> And
> > we said OK.
> >
> > Then some wise school board member said, since
> > boys will be boys and
> > they're going to do it anyway, let's give our sons
> > all the condoms they want
> > so they can have all the fun they desire, and we
> > won't have to tell their
> > parents they got them at school. And we said OK.
> >
> > Then some of our top elected officials said it
> > doesn't matter what we do
> > in private as long as we do our jobs. Agreeing
> with
> > them, we said it doesn't
> > matter to me what anyone, including the President,
> > does in private as long
> > as I have a job and the economy is good.
> >
> > Then someone said let's print magazines with
> > pictures of nude women and
> > call it wholesome, down-to-earth appreciation for
> > the beauty of the female
> > body. And we said OK.
> >
> > And then someone else took that appreciation a
> > step further and published
> > pictures of nude children and then further again
> by
> > making them available on
> > the Internet. And we said OK, they're entitled to
> > free speech.
> >
> > Then the entertainment industry said, let's
> make
> > TV shows and movies that
> > promote profanity, violence, and illicit sex.
> Let's
> > record music that
> > encourages rape, drugs, murder, suicide, and
> satanic
> > themes. And we said
> > it's just entertainment, it has no adverse effect,
> > nobody takes it seriously
> > anyway, so go right ahead.
> >
> > Now we're asking ourselves why our children
> have
> > no conscience, why they
> > don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't
> > bother them to kill
> > strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
> >
> > Probably, if we think about it long and hard
> > enough, we can figure it
> > out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE
> REAP
> > WHAT WE SOW."
> >
> > Funny how simple it is for people to trash God
> > and then wonder why the
> > world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what
> the newspapers say,
> > but question what the Bible says.
> >
> > Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail
> and
> > they spread like
> > wildfire, but when you start sending messages
> > regarding the Lord, people
> > think twice about sharing.
> >
> > Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene
> > articles pass freely through
> > cyberspace, but public discussion of God is
> > suppressed in the school
> > workplace and sometimes the home.
> >
> > Are you laughing?
> >
> > Funny how when you forward this message, you
> will
> > not send it to many on
> > your address list because you're not sure what
> they
> > believe, or what they
> > WILL think of you for sending it. Funny how we can
> > be more worried about
> > what other people think of us than what God thinks
> > of us.
> >
> > Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not
> then
> > just discard it...no
> > one will know you did. But, if you discard this
> > thought
> > process, don't sit back and complain about what
> bad
> > shape the world is in!
> >
> > She has sent a couple others similar to this and I have just ignored them.

What makes this especially galling to me is that every one at work knows I am an Atheist! I like her and repect her as a professional.

Should I just ignore it or gently try to tell her that I disagree and don't want any more sent?

Thanks for the advice.
> >
>
>

Oxidizing Material

Personally, I'd pick the letter's "Argument" apart line by line, but whatever works for you.

Stephen Maturin

Gary,

This particular pile of theocratic crapola made its way through <a href="http://iidb.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=47&t=000564" target="_blank">RPP</a> awhile back. As much fun as tearing the e-mail apart line-by-line can be, that might end up jeopardizing what is apparently a good working relationship. Perhaps you should try sleeping on it a night or two. If after that time the situation still bothers you as much as it does now, then a kind, gentle "thanks but no thanks" certainly wouldn't be out of line. If the e-mails keep coming after that, then the sender obviously has no respect for your position. At that point you can consider taking off the gloves and ripping the next bit of godspam to shreds.

GaryP

Thanks guys . I feel better now. It just seems that every time one turns around it is in your face again.

I think I will probably just ignore it. I don't want to upset our relationship. It always amazes me when christians assume that this type of drivel will be accepted by all.

Samsa

I know this has been ripped apart before, but hell, its too much to resist!

'This horse is not intended to be a horse'. It's really a jackass, but shhhhhh...

For every historical (NOT biblical) example of God lifting a finger that you can show me, have $100 out of my pocket.

The police and Army give us protection without being ever-present in our schools, lives etc, so why can't God?

O'Hair's killer was a greedy, psychopathic fuckup, who probably would have offed her regardless of creed.

Praying in school does not equal teacher-led prayer sessions. Just as farting privately in church is different from making a church service pause until you've broken wind.

If human society had waited for the Bible to come up with those rules, it would have perished long beforehand!

Spock was in favour of spanking until very late in his life. He viewed it as a last, rather than first resort. Also, Spock's GRANDson, not son, committed suicide.

Confucius say: Incorrect facts make tightrope wobbly beneath tenuous stance.

Sometimes, one of those parents -who most likely believes in God - caused the need for the abortion.

Thats enough quoting, I'm gonna finish with a list of bullets (drop the titanium-&-ignorance-alloyed shielding, and some of them might get through!)

• Condoms prevent a lot more unwanted pregnancies than prayers
• Imagine how much time would have been saved if certain people hadn't been so obsessed about Clinton's private life. Time he could have used to, well, do his job
• Violence, murder, rape, suicide and satanic themes? I have a book, written well before now, that's full of those. Guess what it is.
• Europe sowed Christianity for over a thousand years; they reaped crusades, tortures, burnings; scientific, cultural and intellectual fossilisation, draconian laws with executions galore, and widely practised infanticide.
• If no one spreads emails like this, preferring to pass on jokes instead, why has it ended up in my mailbox more than once?
• When did talking about God in the home become 'public discussion'? Find me a local newspaper article about a high school Christian club being denied permission to form, and you can have another $100
• You can believe in a God who approves of those who fill the inboxes of busy colleagues with lengthy spam, even when specifically asked by them not to. This is a country based on religious freedom, after all.
• Sure, us godless heathens will get lost, and not complain - just don't come running to us when the Religious Right is running roughshod, with goverment's full approval, all over YOUR freedoms!

(Sigh - fixing errant HTML)

[ July 08, 2002: Message edited by: Samsa ]

[ July 08, 2002: Message edited by: Samsa ]

[ July 08, 2002: Message edited by: Samsa ]

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GaryP

Thank you Samsa for the talking points.

Godless Dave

GaryP, I might respond like this:

GaryP

That's a good one , Godless Dave. Thanks!