to get really riled by SIL's constant religious references?

[JustInCaseShesLooking]

My 2 brothers and I were raised very churchy and 1 brother has gone on to be a pastor. I no longer go to church and everyone's fine about it. Except SIL. I get the feeling she's always trying to get me to come back to churchiness.

Most of the time it's fine, no one says anything, but then she slips little things in like "Ooh SIL you had nice weather for your holiday", "Yes, we thanked God for that". Or the badge she has on her bag, "Smile, Jesus loves you". It just makes me want to rip her face off!

I suppose they don't sound too bad one at a time, but it's all the time.

So, AIBU?

(Sorry for the name change but you just never know!)

how would it be if every time she talked about god, you gave her a quick precis of your non-belief. i.e. you repsect her right to express her belief, so she should respect yours?
e.g. "Ooh SIL you had nice weather for your holiday", "Yes,we thanked God for that".
you - "well that was a bit pointless wasn't it> given that he doesn't exist? and that the weather is of course nothing whatsever to do with and supreme being? and isn't it madly egotisical to think that of all the people affected by that weather system god meant to improve your holiday? and that of all the things god has to do, your holiday weather was a priority for him?"

Ah this made me think of a lovely baby blanket I saw today

had 'Jesus wants me as a Sunbeam' all over it

Seriosuly considering for my faking-religion-to-get-into-the-right-school sister (baby due Novermber)

If she's that religious then she has your best interests at heart so yabu- but i can understand why it would be a bit grating after a while

lol at harpsichord

couldnt have put it better myself

harpsi, I guarantee that would be an open invitation to carry on. Seriously. It would likely be interpreted as a desire to have a conversation about the meaning of life et al.

I gasp in horror at the people who've been told they're going to hell because they're not baptised, etc. Wish I could apologise on behalf of all believers of every faith for such awful, thoughtless and downright nasty comments.

Without knowing your SIL it's tricky to say whether I think she is making deliberate comments, though being a Christian myself I know many people who do say such things pointedly. Do you think you're a good judge of character in general? Do you usually trust your instincts? If yes to both these q's, I reckon you're prob right about your SIL.

If I were you I'd just ask her outright (polite, but firm?) whether she's trying to make a point, and why. Don't feel that you can't tell her that you find it irritating - it irritates the hell out of even me when other Christians do it! Hey, I might challenge them, too! Good luck!

LOL at "PrettyCankles"!!!

I think YABU but I can see why it is annoying you. I suspect he rfaith is such a big thing in her life that she can't talk or act in any other way. I was a Christian until recently and I'm finding it very hard to talk to one of my friends, and the local Anglican church is really irritating me with its constant leaflettting dd1's school about events it is putting on. Then dh pinted out that I used to talk like my friend and was dead keen to put on childrens' services etc when I went to church. I wonder if the way your sil talks reminds you of how you were brought up, what you had to say in church etc and that leaves you feeling uncomfortable?

Whatever, I think your sil's heart is in the right place, however irritating it might be for you.

MrsTH, as far as I am concerned, you needn't bother. It's their problem. Let those people believe what they want to believe. I'm not sure whether or not there is an afterlife, but I suspect that - if there is - there are in fact several different afterlives. People who align themselves with any particular religion or belief will find themselves in that particualr afterlife. So these people who say that I will go to hell because I haven't found Jesus etc won't find me in their heaven, but likewise I won't find them in mine. And if they end up in their hell, they won't find me there either!

Have you ready The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold? She has a wonderful idea of overlapping heavens, so you go to your heaven, but you can visit people in areas where their heaven and yours overlap. I like that.

Why not thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster when she thanks God?
www.venganza.org/

Express to her how grateful you were when His Noodly Appendage sorted out your plumbing problems, or whatever.