As I’m asking to learn about local customs and celebrations on my profile, I regularly receive descriptions of religious holidays and practices, which I very much enjoy! I also received a number of cards from very pious people, but if they just tell me about the role their faith is playing in their lives, I enjoy that, too - as well as people sharing spiritual experiences in general.
I had a handful where I was asked about if I did my duty by their God and if I walked their path fervently enough. In these cases I felt compelled to tell them about my preferred deity, because I think it’s very presumptious to assume everyone shares their faith.
Some people have told me their thoughts about their governments or what they intended to vote next or some political cause they were passionate about. I always find this interesting, even if I don’t necessarily agree with their standpoint. For me, politics impact my life very much, and I enjoy talking about it as well as hearing from others.
Especially for the big nations who impact many others, those others should be expected to voice their opinions and to me this is absolutely fine. But I also accept if people choose to rather talk about different topics and I respect that.
Could you please translate the post to English?
The forum guidelines says “English is the official language of the forum, and this language should be used throughout the forum — except on the Language and Geographical communities, and on the Meetups sections.”
For the past 2 1/2 years, our in-person meetings and our in-person ministry had been suspended due to the Pandemic. This was done out of concern for the health & safety of our neighbors. That being so, our ministry has been pursued by informal means: letter-writing and telephone calls. I’ve written hundreds of letters so far; I don’t use postcards. These avenues, as well as interesting News reports about them, have spread our message in ways that could have never been achieved in person.
I agree. I also see art when I look at (f. e.) The Last Supper. Poland is religious country and many of our monuments are churches. But when I send a card with a church on it I don’t think someone may feel uncomfortable because of it. It is just our history. I am not a Christian but I do enjoy seeing beautiful monuments and works of art.
I live in a small town and sometimes it is hard to buy a stamp that doesn’t show something that may be considered religious. I even pointed that once to the postal worker. As long as it is art or a church it is fine. I think that’s your case. Stamps showing art are beautiful. Don’t think someone would be bothered by them. But the postal worker gave me Easter stamps with dying Jesus on it. The picture was quite realistic and I didn’t feel comfortable looking at it. But they were the only one available at the moment. I usually order stamps online but not always have that possibility . Sometimes I have to wait for my order for more than 2 weeks and these cards needed to be send as soon as possible.
Yeah, we received like 2-3 letters from JW. Extremely annoying.
But it’s good that you don’t send postcards like these. Postcrossing is not a place for that, I’d also like to point out that if you ever would do so, you may get warning or even your account may get suspended.
The person who send me a letter with a postcard got a warning from moderators.
Here is a whole discussion about that:
That doesn’t seem to me like they were trying to be unkind, or would necessarily have sent a political hurray message in response to a non-political postcard message. It seems more like an effort to have a respectful dialogue about a topic that you yourself raised. By writing that there wouldn’t be conflict with Ukraine and it was fake news, I think you were inviting such a response. Perhaps they were hoping to find out what your views were of the evolving situation, which had changed drastically between the time you sent the card and the time they received it.
When this issue came up a year ago, I discerned that many had an incomplete view of this. I also had a very nice and fruitful discussion with Ana about this. She had received many messages about possible misuse of PostCrossing; I clarified some points about writing letters. For example, our headquarters does not condone contacting people via postcards. But I know in Europe this was happening. After our discussion, she got a fuller picture about this.
But you are conflating two separate issues here: using PostCrossing to promote a message vs. receiving letters that others have written to you. With respect to the latter, speaking personally, I sometimes receive mail that I am not interested in. Do I find it annoying? Yes, sometimes. In those cases, I just toss the item in the circular file.
Stuff like that I find disgraceful. There is little that you can do with such misinformed & narrow-minded individuals. Unfortunately, throughout history the actions of various regimes have painted with a broad brushstroke the people of those nations. I blame the educational systems of every nation for this. In subtle ways, they instill notions of superiority in their students that is hard to shake loose from in adulthood.
Right? I am surprised some people have mentioned churches as religious postcards. To me it they falls in the landmark/architecture/culture/heritage categories. I guess someone may feel very strongly about religion but then I hope they would mention the “no churches” in their profile.
It’s a matter of respect. If you respect other people, you let them believe in whatever god(dess) (singular AND plural) they wish to. To proselytise someone is intrusive and patronizing.
For me it’s okay to receive sacral art and architecture (because it simply is art) or if someone is very religious and wants to tell about their activities (a part of THEM), why not, that’s totally okay. And I know they mean no harm when they say things like “God bless you” or say they pray for me - but it is intrusive and I do not feel good about it. I choose my religion. And I often receive those, even though I think I wrote clearly enough that I do not like anything Christian. (While you may not have another postcard, you can always choose what you write).
I’m fine with politics, as it’s a part of life, but again, it’s okay if they tell me their point of view, it’s intrusive if they want me to adapt.
I wasn’t offended or anything. I see it the same you see it. Polite, yet curious. But it was one message out of several at the time and suddenly I couldn’t send cards anymore. It took me a month to return to postcrossing. I mean, my idea of an ideal postcrossing exchange is writing about books or my pets, or “I like Mondays because there is a walnut cake at the cafeteria on Mondays”. And suddenly people are offering to send you pictures of dead bodies or ask if I voted for Putin. It takes some time to adjust.
I have received some religious cards with Bible verses, and I am a Christian so I like/appreciate them. I also ask for houses of worship in my wishlist. I used to write “God bless” on my postcards which I intended as a very positive thing but I realize not everyone appreciates that wording so I’ve generally switched to “best wishes”.
I have probably received a few political cards but none that stand out as being offensive. I generally try to steer clear of politics in Postcrossing myself.
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.
. Sometimes I have to wait for my order for more than 2 weeks and these cards needed to be send as soon as possible.