WIBU- Religious stuff on FB/ family illness

[TraceyTrickster]

Some of my friends (all people I know) on FB are pretty religious and post random crap- often about god. I am an atheist.

Last week my 10 month old nephew went in for an operation and it went badly wrong. He may now be disabled for life and have a very restricted life with a feed tube into his bowel. This has been extremely distressing.

Yesterday, I saw red when one of my FB friends posted ' before you ask god for what you want, thank god for what he has given you'.

So far I have managed to restrain myself from ranting, but I am finding it hard (hence posting this). Obviously she does not know about my baby nephew, but it is offensive. People with cancer, who are recently bereaved etc- they are meant to be thankful for what they have been given.

Please tell me whether I should send her a private message and let her know how upsetting this shit is for many circumstances.

I agree that the problem here is the effect of facebook not your friend.

I'm a Christian and the trite stuff makes my teeth itch but a lot of my friends do post that kind of thing. I smile and move on. What's important to me is the faith behind the sentiment. A faith that places our Trust in God and gives Him our thankfulness because He died on a cross for us. But anyway......

I have a prayer list as long as my arm atm and it's ALL men and boys in tough situations that I'm quite cross with God about actually. I can easily add your nephew in. Would you like me to do so? I know you don't believe in it - but can't hurt can it?

OP loads of things will seem offensive at the moment
I don't have FB but I do have religious family (which I think is worse). Me and DH are strongly Atheist and keep getting the questions "when are you getting DD christened" "Do you want her to be a sinner?" "Aurora why do you want to go to work? Your wifely duties are to look after your husband and children" I could go on and on but I will spare you the details. It's really frustrating. Could you block them on FB? Maybe start posting Atheist rantings and quotes and they will get the message? (Atheist republic is quite good?)

Sorry to hear about your nephew

It wasn't posted on your wall was it? If so then go ahead and message the friend. If not then surely your friend can write what they want on their wall? Hide the feed if it bothers you.

I can see how the OP feels. The trouble is, people who post stuff like this tend to be much better at telling other people to be cheerful than they are themselves. If something really awful happened to the poster, like a bereavement or a terrible accident, she probably wouldn't be very thrilled if people started telling her to be grateful for what God had given her.

People who post stuff like that tend not to be very intelligent or very imaginative. I would just ignore her or block her. I don't think there's any point in trying to reason with her.

This is what's wrong with Facebook (and Christmas Round Robins). They are impersonal and one-comment-fits-all. There's no thought given to any one individual who might receive it. That's why they often offend with remarks that are very inappropriate to some recipients.

I agree with others that non-religious "positive thinking" is very annoying too. "Everything happens for a reason" etc.

Freedom of speech is the freedom to say silly, thoughtless, cliched and generally annoying things just as much as it is to say sensitive, intelligent, thoughtful and original things.

I often get annoyed by stupid comments that atheists make about religion, but that doesn't mean they don't have the right to make them.

Ignore FB comments that annoy you, wherever and whoever they come from.

Oh hackmum, you have reminded me of a month or two in my life which was very challenging.
DS has AS, and used to take things very literally, with an inflexible mindset and so he didn't understand why Christians were sad when someone died, because they were with their god in heaven, and that's where they wanted to be and would be happy. So being dead was a good thing.
However, some Christian get very offended and upset if you say that in response to a bereavement, and he took a while to understand the tirade of emotions that he often unleashed when exploring this confusion.

OP, stick with people who understand and try and avoid and ignore those that haven't a clue. They don't intend to be hurtful, but if they are, it's best avoided. Otherwise you end up wanting to punch people.

I think the one size fits all type of comments. That is also true OP people post stuff thinking it applies to everyone because they believe in it.

Sorry, YABU. Much as I disagree with the mumbo jumbo she is entitled to post whatever she wishes on her Facebook, as are you. If you don't like it either hide or de friend her.
You can't tell everyone not to put anything you may not like.

Also, sorry about your nephew. Hope the outcome is better than expected.

Did she post it on one of your comments, or is it just something she posted on her own timeline? If she posted it on yours, that's v insensitive - I am a Christian but would never post anything religious on someone elses comment/photo unless I knew they were too - I would just comment something like "thinking of you", supportive not religious. But if you choose to be my friend you have to accept that that's who I am, and on my own timeline I may choose to share something religious. If your friend's religion is something that bothers you, and you do not like seeing her messages, then hide her on FB.

So sorry about your Nephew but people are entitled to their opinions and faith. It can get irritating at best and insensitive at worst but so are those ridiculous 'Like if you love, ignore if you hate' type posts. Hide her posts or delete her but she is entitled to feel the way she does and post about it if she wants.