In my country, when someone has asked you to remove them from their mailing or emailing list and they do not comply, they are committing a crime. I do believe this is true in the USA too. So, no, you don’t have to just put up with unsolicited advertising be it from companies or religions. There is action you can take.
My husband is a church minister and we would never think of sending someone religious literature they didn’t ask for. We would find this offensive and know that many others do too. We respect and celebrate diversity of religious belief.
I was the one who mentioned religious buildings as religious and I believe they are designed to be religious symbols. I also said that receiving them doesn’t bother me to receive them.
But there would be lots of Christians who don’t like such cards. So, we need to be careful not to lump everyone together. All religions have great diversity of beliefs and practices within them.
I don’t recall receiving anything political or religious out of the sender commenting the political situation in their own country and few “God bless” now and then. After reading this thread I started to think about the “God bless” more and how I feel about that. Usually I don’t have anything against receiving blessings as I hold all the beliefs in the same value and I see it as an honour to receive blessing from somebody who believes. My only demand is that if I am blessed, then the person should also accept a blessing from me, which not all agree on. Thinking about that made me realize why I have negative feelings toward cards/letters having “God bless” (or similar): because there is no consent! I wasn’t asked if I want to have blessing nor had I chance to offer my own blessings. In other words, I am okay with receiving blessings when I am asked and have a chance to consent for it, but I am not okay at all being blessed without the person asking first if it is ok. Also, in my culture it is VERY strange to go around saying anything like “God bless” or similar. The only person I have ever seen doing it here was a priest and it was the signature of her work email, and the closest word in my mother language similar to God bless is a curse word, so there we go.
Over all, I think religion and politics are something you don’t take up on the first meeting with people (unless it is like in a church or political event I guess…???) Those are the more personal topics you discuss with people already familiar.
This is true, and I wouldn’t presume that someone wants these types of cards (I don’t send cards with Bible verses to anyone). I was just commenting that it’s something I enjoy receiving. I think from reading my profile that it is safe to assume this is something I would enjoy, or at least not dislike, so that is probably why people send them to me.
Here in the United States, if you send unsolicited eMails and the receiver has specifically opted out from receiving future emails and one sends them again, the sender could be culpable and fined. Mailing correspondence from publicly available records/databases is acceptable, so long as it does not involve illegal activity.
The following applies to commercial mail activities. Many companies rent their mailing lists. When you purchase a product, subscribe to a publication, or get a service online, your name becomes the company’s property. So for example, if you are an outdoors enthusiast you may subscribe to Field & Stream. A company that sells camping equipment might want to mail or eMail their offers to the Field & Stream subscriber list. The company contacts the broker who oversees their client’s mailing or eMailing list. Before the list is rented out, the broker will remove those names that don’t wish to receive offers.
I didn’t support the war, but it’s postcrossing, it is about exchanging cards, I just wrote “thank you for the card” and in return got a link with political message. Well, I have the Internet and I’m fully aware of the views in other countries.
Not really much of either yet, for me. I’ve had one person tell me her favorite quotes which happened to be Bible verses, and a Postcrosser who seemed desperate to let me know that not all Russians are terrible people. The first didn’t bother me (I am Christian as well, though I haven’t found a good way to note that on my profile) as it was simply information about the sender. The second broke my heart and I made sure to emphasize in my Hurray Message that I absolutely did not think that. But, I haven’t been around for very long, so time will tell!
Each Christmas Italy uses to issue two stamps, a laic one and a religious one (usually a Madonna with Child from a Renaissance Era painting). I have always seen them as pieces of art and I’ve never had any problems using them on postcards, unless maybe the receiver says in their profile they don’t want religious subjects at all.
The same, I think old Russian icons are just pieces of art for people not interested in religion or who follow a different belief. Nothing wrong with them at all.
As an atheist and an architecture lover, I absolutely love to receive cards with churches, of any religion. They are part of the history and culture of a country and often they are landmarks and great architecture works.
The same I feel with cards showing religious sculptures, paintings, stained glass window… but also particular religious cerimonies : if you are sending them to show something of the art and culture of your country, they are all great.
Same experience, I received one letter towards the start of the pandemic, and basically followed the instructions in that thread to report to the moderators.
It was obvious because the letter explicitly had a link to their website.
Another encounter I had was a card I sent out to a newer user, and when they registered the card, the message included a link/invite to the website
Since I state on my profile that I am a Christian believer, I sometimes receive religious postcards with images of Saints, church altars, or messages with quotes from the Scriptures. I like them (when they don’t openly advertise a special church denomination).
I’m less keen on political postcards (usually celebrating past wars or a contemporary leader), but well, they still tell me something about the sender and their country…
UPDATE: I consider paintings depicting an ancient battle as art, so I usually like them, like other art works.
I wasn’t going to comment in this thread, though it’s quite an interesting discussion, but I had to chime in and say - YES, EXACTLY! It might be meant with all the kindness in the world, but it feels intrusive and uncomfortable. Without consent, a blessing or an “I’m praying for you” can feel quite overbearing. Especially knowing that (in most cases) they wouldn’t welcome a pagan blessing in return, it just feels icky.
I think that’s the issue I have with the example given above about writing a full card about roses vs a full card about Jesus. When someone offers to send you a bit of information about something they’re super interested in, they want to share something they love. But when someone offers, unprompted, to send you a book about their religion? Especially in Christianity, there’s an underlying feeling of “they want me to adopt their faith, potentially at the expense of my own”. Yes they’re also just sharing something they love, but there’s that underlying discomfort.
I don’t mind receiving cards showing religious buildings - the architecture is so beautiful! And even messages that mention Christian religion in passing or to answer a question don’t much bother me. But if it was the entire contents of the message, or quoting scripture at me? I’d be uncomfortable. (Funny enough, marginalized religions don’t have this effect on me. I feel less like I’m being proselytised to about something I’ve already chosen to leave, and more like I’m being taught something about a religious culture I know very little about )
I realize some feel the need to “correct” the sender… I feel “why bother?”. Someone spent money on postcards and stamps and took the time to write about something important to them. If I disagree with what they write, I thank them about something else and move on. There are Christians on Postcrossing. There are Muslims and Hindus and other religions. There are pacifists and conservatives and communists. What we have in common is we are all human and enjoy postcards. Build on that.
Right . I think it’s pretty much clear, as long as it doesn’t break community guidelines, it’s all good (eventhough some may not like the content of the card and the message)
But if some things bother us as receiver, the easiest choice is to ignore the uncomfortable content, confront the sender and explain, or add it in the profile the contents and kind of phrases we’re uncomfortable with (for the better)
Every individual and their feelings are for sure different and matter, but I always try to assume that they’ve done their best and I try to tolerate the things that I’m not fond of
Someone contacted me once asking to exchange postcards. I had just bought some Christ the Redeemer cards, so I told her I would send one of them, but she asked me to send her a different tourist postcard since she was not a religious person. I know it may sound a little silly, but I was kind of shocked because I never thought of Chirst the Redeemer as a religious icon. It’s the symbol of Rio de Janeiro and our most visited tourist attraction. After that, I was a bit worried to send these postcards to someone who might think of this statue from a religious perspective.
In my mind, when I joined postcrossing, I would be writing to people I would never have met in my life! It is a small chat with a stranger. I have no expectations . With that in mind, I accept all comments and opinions. That is the fun of this hobby. I never get offended. Bring it on! I just love it!
I’m always worried that it’s okay to send postcards from Japanese shrines and temples to people who are not good at religion.
Although not a religion, I know a Japanese who received a postcard stamped with a rubber stamp against whaling from Australia. I don’t want the idea to enter the world of postcrossing.
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