How do you tell a person that you don't care about their god/religion?

[WillParkinson]

I have a "friend" FROM work who continues to send me these things about 'god' and his 'religion' even after I've told him that I'm an atheist and don't share his belief.

I've been very respectful but I'm getting near the end of my rope. He's a nice enough guy but I think that's quite enough!

(ON EDIT: My bad. I should have said a friend "FROM" work. He sends the stuff from his home to my home.)

[lovedems]

1. You could always start sending him scientific studies of evolution

that would probably really piss him off and that might not be your intention but hey, since he want's to share beliefs.

[WillParkinson]

3. <SNICKER>

That goes well with my NY resolution not to mince words, I guess.

[BigMcLargehuge]

2. well, if it's work, complain first to the sender

and if it doesn't abate, complain to management.

[WillParkinson]

7. No, it's not from work...

He sends them from his home to my home. No work involved other than the fact that we each work at the same place.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

4. Say listen, I've been respectful to your beliefs...

Now it's time to be respectful to mine and leave me alone. Religion is a personal matter, and while I respect your beliefs, I don't see it the same way, but I'm not pressuring you to give up your god, so please, don't pressure me to accept yours. It's just an issue we're going to have to agree to disagree about it...or something like that.
Duckie

[Bertha Venation]

26. Good answer, Duckie.

This is about what I'd do, Will. But I warn you it will probably be ignored. This person will tell you, "You think you don't want to hear it, but if I keep bombarding you I know you'll come around."

Fundamentalists are the most arrogant people around. They have a higher calling -- to "witness" nonstop at all costs, because if they lose your soul it's on them -- so they believe they're excused by god and their victims for their outrageous behavior.

Good luck.

[Loonman]

5. Just tell him you're happy he's happy in his religion

But you just don't care and don't want to hear about it.

Nothing personal.

[arwalden]

6. Dear Joe

Do not send me any more messages that are unrelated to work. Specifically, do not send me any messages that pertain to religion, or a god, or your belief in a god, or my non-belief in gods.

Sincerely,

William Bowden

cc: R. McDonald (Human Resources)

[WillParkinson]

9. R. McDonald?

No, the place I work is more of a Mickey Mouse outfit than a Mickey D's.

And Jason isn't sending them at work but from his home to my home.

[arwalden]

16. In That Case...

I'd suggest the following:

1) The same direct and screw-hurt-feelings approach. All-caps "DO NOT SEND EMAIL TO ME EVER AGAIN" might help.

"I hope you understand that this is a final gesture of goodwill on my part. Please do not force me to seek more complicated and unpleasant solutions." (Of course, this line suggests possible legal action, restraining order, etc.)

2) Add his name to your email filter's "kill file" and you'll never see evidence of him again. (Some email filtering software will automatically send a "Do Not Write Me Ever Again" message. Others will automatically send a fake "User Does Not Exist / Invalid Address" error message.

3) It's still harassment, right? If this were sexual harassment, then you probably would not hesitate to seek assistance or advice from your company's human resources department. I'm thinking that the same thing applies here.

Even though their literal authority might not extend beyond business hours nor outside of the boundaries of the building... if they decided to become even slightly involved, it would be a sure sign to him that you were fed up.

Best of luck!!
-- Allen

[HereSince1628]

10. Great minds, etc etc, see below

[HereSince1628]

8. Send him a memo cc'd to your HR office about religious harassment

You could threaten to cut his hands off and stuff them into his mouth.
But I think that would have some blowback.

[Champion Jack]

12. ROFLMAO!!!!!

[dolgoruky]

13. Karl Marx screensaver?

Or you could do an impression of the Marquis de Sade by jumping on to the desk screaming "Jesus is a motherfucker!" while wanking into a chalice. I tend to think this will do the trick.

[SoCalDem]

11. I had a friend who was a "born-again" and I just told her this

"If I ever feel the need to be saved, you are at the top of my list of whom to call.."

"I will bow to your close connection to Jesus when it comes to front row parking places at the mall"..

She never preached to me :) and we were good friends for many years, until we moved too far ..

[Bertha Venation]

28. re: Jesus & parking....

Hail Mary full of grace
bless me now with a parking place
:)
(apologies to our devout Catholics)

[felonious thunk]

14. He's trying to save you, since you told him you're an atheist

It's unlikely he'll respect your opinions on religion, simply because his religion doesn't permit him to do so. He should be saving you, not turning his back on you. Doesn't make him a bad person, but I highly doubt that any way you broach it with him will result in him agreeing to respect your atheism.

I suggest you swallow your pride and just delete the emails. Sure it's annoying, but it's going to be easier than confronting a coworker. And it gives you the chance to be the bigger person, in my opinion.

[Bill McBlueState]

21. what felonious thunk said.

It only encourages this sort of person when you tell them you're not interested.

He hears at church that it's supposed to be hard to convert someone, and Satan will put obstacles in his path. It's a big drama for him, where he, Satan, Jesus, and maybe his pastor, are the only actors.

[uberotto]

15. Set your email client up to automatically forward....

all of his emails to the trash folder. Explain to him that if he doesn't stop sending the unwanted emails, he will not be able to send you any emails. Tell him that if he wants to contact you, he can call you on the phone.

This worked for me in a similar situation. The friend decided that the convenience of email outweighed her need to save my soul.

[trof]

18. bingo

I have a "friend" who sends me lots of rw stuff.
I put him on my blocked senders list and they go straight into the delete file.
Viola.

[RebelOne]

17. I have the same problem with my sister.

She's always sending me religious e-mails, prayers, etc. I have told her to stop sending me all that "god" and "Jesus" crap, but I think she is determined to save my soul.

[Endangered Specie]

19. Send him 1000+ emails on atheism and the like

With big attatchments

And in the 1001, send an email, with subject line:
DId you like this? I didn't think so. Don't do it to me either. "Do onto others as..."

[jpgray]

20. "You ever try Beazlebub brand lube? Works in all positions!"

That should scare them off.

[beawr]

22. Ask him if he would like to have sex

That should do it.

[jimbo fett]

25. LMAO!!!

[FunBobbyMucha]

23. It comes from a good, albeit annoying place...

...as such, I would and have opted for the appreciative-but-limit-setting approach. This happened to me a lot when I moved to the South. Verbatim, more or less:

"Hey, Aaron, I wanna say first off that I agree with Bruce Springsteen--he had a song called 'Something to Believe.' A lotta Christians think it's a song about Christ, but the cool thing to somebody like me is that it's about the need in any individual's life to believe in something--Christ, Buddha, etc. Even Atheism is a belief system, as silly as they may sound to you. My point is that I am secure with my beliefs. I know that troubles you and you're doing what a good Christian is supposed to do. I wanna absolve you of that, okay? I hear everything you're saying, and I am glad that it works for you, but it won't ever work for me. Let me put the shoe on the other foot: If I were Muslim, and was here every day talking just as passionately about Mecca, and Allah, with all the fervor and genuine love you have when you discuss Jesus...well, it wouldn't make a difference to you, would it? I couldn't convince you in a hundred years to convert, could I? Well, that's where I'm at. I want you to be okay with being around me without trying to save me. Besides, we're at work, where we're not even supposed to talk about any of this. I wouldn't want you to get in trouble with Pam over something like that, okay?"

See, compassion, empathy, and then deli-thin veiled threat! If it was a co-worker I really didn't like anyway, I was more brutal, just invoking the "Opium of the masses" quote. But I generally try not to create holy wars if I can avoid it.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

24. Pointedly ignore him

I had a Japanese friend from my student days who converted to Soka Gakkai (a very missionary-minded sect of Buddhism) after I left Japan.

All of a sudden her friendly letters turned into Soka Gakkai sermons accompanied by Soka Gakkai pamphlets in English.

I continued writing to her but completely avoided mentioning anything about Soka Gakkai. It was all, "So how do you like your new job? Has your (American) boyfriend learned to like Japanese food yet?" and so on.

After about three such exchanges, she stopped sending the Soka Gakkai stuff.

Haranguing is no fun if the object of your haranguing makes a point of ignoring you.

[toddzilla]

29. every one that you get, send him..

A link to a newspaper story of some natural disaster or mass killing/death that has occurred, preferably involving young children or babies, maybe some serial child molester or something along those lines.. the holocaust is a good example, although obvious.


then just ask..


WHAT THE FUCK????????


that will usually do the trick since there's no explanation for it.

[NightTrain]

27. "Nothing personal, but I'm an atheist."

Works for me. :shrug:

[NeoConned]

30. Destroy him and his happy little world

Invade his home and do battle with him until one of you leaves or submits to the others 'religion'. Perhaps,if you win, you could adopt some of his customs like present giving at the Winter Solstice.