The problem with that card is that the 101-tower represents the Taiwanese independency from the People’s Republic of China, which ist neglected by China!
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“The words you speak become the house you live in.” –Attributed to Hafiz
When I receive a postcard I see it as a window to the world of that person, so when I received a religious message (some) or political (rare) i take it as a peek at that person’s life and as someone said before, even not being religious I don’t disdain a good wishing message, i take quotes from the bible as quotes from any other book.
Political messages are a bit more tricky as sometimes it clashes with your own, but it’s a good lesson in Respect, to hear (read) a different opinion and exercise myself in accepting the Right of that person to have their opinion. And as Tomas Jefferson said
“I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.”
Not an easy feat but worth the effort 
As always Postcrossing putting us in the road to better ourselves!
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I have just realised something else. I sometimes use stamps which are old Russian icons, our religious art. I do it because I find the stamps really beautiful, they are rusty-gold in colour and I like illustrations. I have no religious thought behind using them, for me they represent the history of my country and they look cool. I may have used a madonna with a child icon when sending a card to a young mother, though.
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I got once a proselytizing postcard and once a letter inviting me to JW. Second was at least sent together with a very beautiful postcard.
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Religion and politics are an integral part of our lives. When they tell the history of a country or talk about some political event in the news format, this is normal. The main thing is not to offend others, not to impose your opinion, to try to be correct.
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I was really upset to get Political message from some of the forum users, about the current situation. Well, am I the one to blame? I didn’t take part in the military actions but I need to suffer too, only because I happen to be born in Russia.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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:
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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.
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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.
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That is not fair, unless they knew that you support Putin’s war on Ukraine. I cannot find any hint therefore in your profile.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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