Okiebryan

That must have been a very large cache. There are all kinds of places to go with this one, but at the risk of being disrespectful, I'll abstain... But I'm still like on the inside,

So geocaches are Christ's preferred method of reaching unbelievers, and by removing what amounts to anti-gay and anti-catholic hate literature from caches, you are denying lost souls the opportunity to come to know Him? I've read the bible from cover to cover at least 3 times. I don't recall any instructions from Jesus to place tracts in caches, even the decent ones that just tell about God's love. This is not an attack on your faith, it's an attack on your logic. Or lack thereof.

I'm wondering how that the current subject requires "Giving up who I am to take part in this game of geocaching"? By all means, be who you are. Go cache. Have fun. Others saying that preachy or hateful religious tracts don't belong in caches certainly in no way impedes you caching or being who you are. I can't understand how that some take this thread as if it were an attack on Jesus himself, then throw all logic out the door to defend leaving garbage that insults whole groups of people in caches.

Sounds to me like a good reason to file a NA log.

Sorry, Keystone. I had forgotten that this thread existed.

I saw this in Tahlequah, Oklahoma on a traffic signal pole. I circled back to get a photo, and I had to send this one to Failblog. ETA: Feel free to vote, it might make the front page

In my opinion, it is not family friendly material and if I find it, it is gone. But the hell and damnation literature directly aimed towards gays and Catholics is family friendly? Please explain how that is family friendly. Team Cotati, why won't you respond to any of my very direct questions? Please help me to understand how that the above, which you have defended in this thread, is family friendly.

In my opinion, it is not family friendly material and if I find it, it is gone. But the hell and damnation literature directly aimed towards gays and Catholics is family friendly? Please explain how that is family friendly.

I've changed coordinates more than 200' when a cache has been muggled repeatedly. I found a new hiding spot, updated the coordinates, and did it all by myself. The kind of distance in the OP will require the intervention of a reviewer.

Well said, Flask. I cannot understand why people in this thread are trying to minimize or even justify the emotional pain that I witnessed.

I have removed over 100 of the fake $100 bill tracts that were really religious tracts. Any tract that mentions hell or eternal damnation unless one surrenders to their particular flavor of salvation is CITO material in my opinion. These were almost all found folded into the log of a micro.

My nearest unfound cache used to be 37 miles away. Then I moved. Now it's less than a mile. But darned if I can find that thing. I've DNFd it like 4 times.

This is just my opinion, but if you live in a part of the country where hunting and shooting is a way of life, then probably no problem. If you live in those places where people tend to freak out about every little thing, then maybe not such a good idea.

I use the marquee tag to congratulate the FTF near the top of the web page. I don't think that's too terribly annoying, but I can see where it could get ridiculous if you used it all over the page. Like seizure annoying... Google "marquee tag" and I think it will lead you to instructions. Just be sure to close your tags... Here's an example of how I use this. Linky

Feel free to ignore this topic if you have nothing to contribute.

I cannot for the life of me fathom anything that could be said to a 9 year old little girl that could protect her from being crushed when being told BY AN ADULT that their mom is evil and deserves to die and rot in hell. Some of you are trying to say prepare your kids for the mean bullies and jerks on the playground, but an adult saying hateful things in the presence of a child is completely different. It's beside the point, anyway. Why would anyone actually choose to place hateful literature in a cache, unless their goal was to shock or inflame or influence someone into seeing their point of view? And isn't that the basic definition of an agenda? Didn't TPTB decide to keep agendas out of geocaching? What possible place could this garbage have in a light and family friendly activity? If I was sitting at a kids softball game and someone started telling me I'm going to hell, I'd very politely tell this that this is not the time or place and ask them to desist. Then I'd likely move away from them. If I overheard them telling a child that their parents are evil and an abomination to God and going to hell, I would immediately make that stop. Start nice and escalate, they get to decide how much it escalates.

Just a reminder that his thread is not about religious artifacts left as swag. Those are neat, and I don't think anyone has any issue with that here.

I've seen them in caches, and I don't have a problem with them. I've also seen a cache that was hidden inside of a spent 12ga shell. Again, no problem. However, there are those who equate a spent shell with gun and go into OMFGZ panic mode... purely out of fear caused by ignorance.

to associative thinkers, there's really no such thing as an off-topic remark. wherever a conversation goes is where it goes and is therefore on-topic. linear thinkers have a hard time with that. kay redfield jamison (loosely paraphrasing) postulates that every interesting innovation in the history of people has come about because of an associative thinker. likewise every good idea that actually gets taken from the drawing board and made to work is because of linear thinkers. Can we please stay on topic here? Wait... Sorry couldn't resist... By the way, just to be clear... I have no problem with any religious item or artifact in a cache. I just wish we could all agree to keep the spammy paraphernalia out of geocaching. Those of you who enjoy the tracts, please take a second and think about whether what you are reading could hurt the child I posted about earlier, or another in a similar situation. Then act on your conscience and remove the offensive material.

The tracts I've seen were not put there by the cache owner. It was a geocacher who visited the cache. I know this because the tracts were in at least a dozen of the caches in the area, hidden by several different hiders.

The problem about religion is that there are always extremes. Several religious groups who openly proselytize are in fact incredibly offensive. I take it that several of you have not read my post early on about the friend of my daughter, who happened to be the daughter of a lesbian woman. I took her geocaching with my daughter and I, and she found a chick tract which detailed how that "God hates fags" and how that all those who "practice the abomination of homosexuality" as well as "idol worshipping catholics" were all going to "burn in the eternal lake of fire" that is hell. It was complete with very graphic images. That little girl asked to go home, and cried all the way there. I talked to her mom and explained what happened, and how sad I was that that happened, but she will never go geocaching again. Many of you who don't live in the central US may not know about Westboro Baptist Church. This is the hate group that loudly protests people's funerals, especially American soldier's funerals. They scream at the family during the graveside service and carry signs that say that the soldier died because there are gay people in America. Oh, let's don't forget the signs about "Jews killed Jesus" and the ones about Catholic Priests and little boys. Talk about inappropriate! These people have turned off more people to Christianity that you would believe, myself included. I recognize that the majority of Christians are not like this, but I'm not taking any chances on being connected to that. I commune with my maker in my own very private way. The extremes of the religion are the ones most likely to spend the money to put out the spiritual version of spam otherwise known as religious tracts. I don't like spam, and I despise hateful religious materials. This is why I remove any tracts from caches and throw them away, without even reading them.

I'd like to nominate this post for "Post of the Year" Freaking brilliant! I love it! Reminds me of "The Gods Must Be Crazy"

My new license place for my motorcycle just came in the mail Saturday:

Apparently Team Cotati has come across the heretofore unknown 11th Commandment. "Thou shalt not trade religious items from a geocache in the woods." Wonder if that one also came on a stone tablet?

Unless it is religious in nature. Then leave it alone. Are you even serious with this post, or are you just stirring the pot? The only thing any cacher is required to leave in the cache is the logbook.