How do I deal with these emails a coworker keeps sending me

[soleft]

I have this friend at work - actually we're not as friendly as we used to be for reasons such as this.

What brought us together is a shared path in seeking truth about ultimate reality and trying to heal our various wounds and live a full and healthy life.

She knows I'm interested in quantum physics and eastern philosophy - so we do discuss spirituality at time to time, but she knows I don't believe in God, and have asked her not to send me spam that contains religious stuff and reference to God.

I just got this email from her - I'm not to spend time to line it up but basically the letters V A L E N T I N E are highlighted vertically through the verse - in bold red.

My gut response is to write back and say, oh, so that was the original Valentines Day masacre, but that would probably only lead her to being really pissed off. Should I politely ask her again to stop sending me this this, or should I just let her fufill whatever need it is she has and delete them as them come in.



Just thought I might share this with you before I begin my day. Enjoy!

 

       For God so loV ed the world,
            That He g A ve
                  His on L y
                 Begott E n
                        SoN
                            T hat whosever
             Believeth I n Him
                Should N ot perish,
             But have E verlasting life."
                                           John 3:16

[Az]

1. Talk to her and explain that you do not share her beliefs

Tell her that you consider such uninvited topics to be offensive or oppressive. Honesty. Its usually the best route.

[disillusioned1]

2. I had the same problem with a co-worker

She was too busy trying to convert me to do her job. She happens to have a leg deformity and walks with a horrible limp.

One day, I was in a very bad mood and fed up with the proseletyzing from her cubicle. I got up, walked into her cubicle and asked her what she had done to God to deserve a bone deformity.

That shut her up for good. Mean? Yes. Effective? Yes.

[lapislzi]

3. Does your company have an e-mail policy?

Speak to her privately and tell her (politely) that you are offended by her e-mail and ask her to stop. Invoke said harassment/e-mail policy if necessary, and follow through if she does it again. Usually the threat to go to management is enough to get someone to lay off.

In my company, using the company server for political or religious or any other "personal" messages is a big no-no.

If she's using a personal account, try setting up a filter that will search-n-destroy messages with certain words in the subject line or text.

Good luck. Been there, gritted my teeth through that.

[RebelOne]

4. I have a friend and two sisters who sent me

that religious crap all the time. I just hit the delete button.

[Stuckinthebush]

5. Just send this back

Wiggly, wobbly, woo
An elepHant sat on you.
Wiggly, wobbly, whAsus
An elephanT sat on Jaysus.
?

[Tafiti]

6. Hilarious!

Did you just make that up? That would be a classic response to an e-mail like that.

[Stuckinthebush]

7. Yep

some call me gifted, others call me "special".

:D

[soleft]

8. LMAO!!! I'm sending it!

[Modem Butterfly]

9. LMFAO

That's great.

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. or even:

         For God So loved the world,
That He gave His Only Begotten Son
            That Whosever believeth in Him
                SHould not perish,
            but hAve
          everlasTing life."

[Stuckinthebush]

11. Very nice...

You get an A+!

This could turn into a fun new hobby.

:D

[dwckabal]

13. Very Good!

These exercises are the basis of the so-called "Bible Code"--finding words and phrases in the Bible that supposedly predict the future. Michael Shermer has had lots of fun coming up with his own version of the Bible Code, even going so far as to show that using any randomly chosen step value n, and any sized matrix, you can glean just about anything you want.

Mathematician Brendan McKay of Australian National University responded to the following challenge Drosnin (author of The Bible Code) made in Newsweek:

"When my critics find a message about the assassination of a prime minister encrypted in Moby Dick, I'll believe them."

McKay found assassination "predictions" in Moby Dick for Indira Gandhi, Rene Moawad, Leon Trotsky, Rev. M. L. King, and Robert F. Kennedy (see http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/dilugim/moby.html).

[southpaw]

14. I'm gonna remember that one...

I can imagine so may uses for that...

[soleft]

15. So I sent it - and she thought it was very funny

She said, so you're mocking us. I don't remember what I said, but then she said, but that's okay. I said, so as long as its funny it's okay to mock you, and she said yes.

I guess she has issues. But thanks for giving me a way to respond that was fun, satisfactorilly expressive of my annoyance, and non-friendship-terminating.

[Stuckinthebush]

16. Well, perhaps she got the message!

I'm glad that it worked. I bet you don't get anymore Xtian emails from her!

[SiouxJ]

18. Thank you! I needed a good laugh today!

I was in a grumpy mood for most of the day, so thanks for the unexpected laugh, in an unexpected place. I was just gonna settle in here and think deep, serious thoughts and try to forget my day and out came this literal lol. :-)

on edit: OMGawd!!! That was funny!

[fshrink]

12. Spells T- R -O -U - B - L - E. (free advice). nt

[YankeyMCC]

17. I'd just reminder her

That you don't believe in the myths in the bible are literally true and don't believe in a god. And that getting notes like this make you uncomfortable because by sending them she seems to be ignoring your feelings and pushing her own belief in a god on you rather than just discussing it.

[Deep13]

19. Ask her...

...why God needed the blood sacrafice of his son save us when he could simply have willed it to be so.

...why she is trying to get the company sued for religious discrimination.

[Ian David]

20. I just believe in one fewer god than you do.

I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours. -- Stephen F. Roberts


There is no wild beast so ferocious as Christians who differ concerning their faith. -- William E. H. Lecky, Irish Historian

Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it, you'd have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, it takes religion. -- Steven Weinberg, Nobel laureate physicist