Irritation

Last night I received an email from someone I don't know. At first I had absolutely no idea how she got my email address, then later realized she was a one-time MNVA mom. Anyway, the email was warning people to not accept the new dollar coin if/when it was offered in a bank or as change at a store. The reason? Apparently it does not say "In God We Trust" on this new coin. The conclusion? By refusing this coin you can profess your faith in God and therefore save our country from .... um, that's where they lost me. {note: I have seen the coin but never noticed this, so I assume that this new design is correct, but can't affirm it from personal knowledge.}

Anyway, I wrote back and asked to be removed from her email list since I didn't know her and did not agree with her sentiments, and (ok, I admit it, went farther than I should have - but it was annoying to be blindly forwarded emails of this sort) said that perhaps she should use her time for more worthwhile things.

Well, she wrote back telling me I ought not to be so judgemental, and that she was sorry that I didn't care what "my Creator" thought of my impolite sarcasm, and that she was so grateful for the opportunity to pray for me and bless me and she truly hoped that one day I would recognize God's will for my life.

I wrote back again - again, I know I should have just hit delete, but this hit a sore spot with me - and said that I found it interesting and amusing that she was warning me about judging and then called me an impolite, sarcastic, apparent non-believer who was in need of her prayers and blessings. What I did NOT say was how is she so darn sure that I am NOT acting on God's will RIGHT NOW, delivering some food for thought into her life?

So today I got a LONG message from her husband who told me his poor wife had been up late with a sick toddler and was merely trying to serve the Lord and share His goodness and wasn't I nasty to not let her do that. Oh, and there was no need for THEM to judge me, God would take care of that, thank you very much. {which sounds vaguely judgmental again, but I'll give him a pass, since his child has been sick and his wife is tired.}

This time I did just hit delete.

Honestly, it started as a "please don't forward emails to people you don't know" but then it escalated.

Escalated into a "My faith is better than yours and if you don't believe exactly what I do you are wrong but I am so gosh-darn good that I will joyously pray for you because that somehow shows my rightness even more but hey, I am not judging you, I LOVE you because we are all children of God."

What gets me the most is the hypocrisy and the total obliviousness of people who profess their faith like this. I know a lot of very religious, and very spiritual, and very faithful people who do not act like this and who respect one another's rights and beliefs and even if they truly deeply believe the others are dead wrong, they would never shove it in their face like that.

Unfortunately I have also had to deal with many people like these anonymous emailers, who, no matter what you say and no matter how reasonable you try to be (or, sarcastically impolite you may sound) their response is "My faith is better than yours and if you were a TRUE _____[insert denomination name here]____ you would see things my way and thank me for LOVING you."

And though I realize I am on a tirade here, trust me I really am not exaggerating. It IRRITATES me.

I read a while ago on Calandria's blog - no, actually I think it was her sister's blog - you'll have to take my word on this as I am not going to go search for the original post - anyways, the upshot was that commenters -and this is where I am pretty sure Calandria came in - said that it's the fanatics in any religion or faith that cause the difficulties in this world.

Amen to that.