God in our e-mails

I am pleased that I continually receive e-mails from people saying, in various ways, that we should keep God in our pledges, on our money, even write about Him (e.g. write "in God we trust" on the back of the envelopes we send out). I love that so many people I know want to keep God in our thoughts, in the forefront of our brains, and even in our actions. The fact that I get so many of these e-mails means that people know where I stand... that God is a presence in my life that I acknowledge and am grateful for.

But isn't it interesting that we keep sending these e-mails to the same people? I mean, it's a little redundant, isn't it? Maybe I shouldn't even say this... I don't want to make you all think I differ from the common point of view--I don't! It just seems that we're not going to accomplish much more than self-congratulatory head nodding, the occasional "right on!" or "amen!" spoken (or even shouted) in the comfort of our own home. I notice we all say "Don't use those new golden dollars, because 'In God We Trust' isn't on the front of them (it's on the edge, where it'll get worn off quickly, &/or people won't even see it)", or that thing about writing on the backs of our envelopes, or sign this e-mail petition to keep God in the Pledge of Allegiance, or whatever. We're all so concerned about letting people know where we stand, but we're all in agreement.....


I don't feel like I'm getting this out quite right. Let me try again.


How many of us are sending those e-mails to the people we know (don't we all know at least one or two) who are atheists, or at least don't "practice" their religion as fervently as the rest of us (who are OBVIOUSLY in the right)? I have to admit, I don't. I forward those e-mails to all the rest of you who send the same stuff back to me. I only send those e-mails to the people I won't... um... offend. (You're right, it IS an outrage that mentioning God and His importance in our day-to-day life would offend someone, but isn't this the country where we're supposed to be free to have whatever opinion we want?)

So what's the point here? I feel like I'm waffling back and forth between two different arguments: I don't forward those e-mails to people who really "need" to see them--the people whose minds the e-mails are supposed to try and change. But I'm afraid of offending them. And I believe that one of the things that makes this country great is that they have every right to be offended by those e-mails. So while part of me thinks I should be forwarding them, not just to the active God-lovers in my life, but to the people who they're really directed to--the "lost"; the other part of me says "who says those people are 'lost', just because their values are different from mine?"

Do you see why I'm in a rather constant state of confusion?