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Religious Propaganda


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I found a religious tract today in the W. Branch Farmington River- Steel Bridge cache at N 42° 04.225 W 073° 03.724.

 

Geocaching is not a religious forum and religious propaganda does not belong in a cache. Some of us find this material offensive. If you insist on propagandizing, at least take credit for your actions and put your name on your material so that the rest of us will know who the offending cachers are.

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Here is what the Cache Listing Requirements / Guidelines say about the cache contents.

 

http://www.geocaching.com/about/guidelines.aspx#contents

Cache Contents

 

Use your common sense in most cases. Explosives, fireworks, ammo, lighters, knives (including pocket knives and multi-tools), drugs, alcohol or other illicit material shouldn't be placed in a cache. As always respect the local laws. Geocaching is a family activity and cache contents should be suitable for all ages.

 

Food items are always a bad idea. Animals have better noses than humans, and in some cases caches have been chewed through and destroyed because food items (or items that smell like food) are in the cache. Even the presence of mint flavored dental floss has led to destruction of one cache.

 

If the original cache contents list any of the above items or other questionable items, or if a cache is reported to have the questionable items, the cache may be disabled, and the owner of the cache will be contacted and asked to remove the questionable items before the cache is enabled.

 

 

Religious and commercial content on swag is not covered. Feel free to ignore it and move on. :(

Edited by Motorcycle_Mama
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I am offended by golfballs in caches. Geocaching is not a golfing forum. You should write your name on any golfballs you put in caches so I can attach a name to my self-righteous indignation.

OK... what I really do is either take the golfball out, or ignore it and move on, happy to have found another cache. Maybe you could try it.

Edited by hukilaulau
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I am offended by golfballs in caches. Geocaching is not a golfing forum. You should write your name on any golfballs you put in caches so I can attach a name to my self-rightoeus indignation.

OK... what I really do is either take the golfball out, or ignore it and move on, happy to have found another cache. Maybe you could try it.

 

With me any cache without a golf ball is a cache not worth doing. I really like finding golf balls. Maybe that is why I don't like blinkers and film canisters. One thing that disturbs me is that lately folks are not leaving golf balls but marbles. Come folks trade up or trade even. A marble for a golf ball is trading down.

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I found a religious tract today in the W. Branch Farmington River- Steel Bridge cache at N 42° 04.225 W 073° 03.724.

 

Geocaching is not a religious forum and religious propaganda does not belong in a cache. Some of us find this material offensive. If you insist on propagandizing, at least take credit for your actions and put your name on your material so that the rest of us will know who the offending cachers are.

 

I personally consider religious pamphlets in the same category as advertisements in the cache. Inappropriate but not something to get too bent out of shape over.

 

I've only found them a couple of times - but each time I do I trade for them and throw them out.

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I found a religious tract today in the W. Branch Farmington River- Steel Bridge cache at N 42° 04.225 W 073° 03.724.

 

Geocaching is not a religious forum and religious propaganda does not belong in a cache. Some of us find this material offensive. If you insist on propagandizing, at least take credit for your actions and put your name on your material so that the rest of us will know who the offending cachers are.

 

Yeah, so what you going to do if you find out who they are? :(

 

I've actually removed religious propaganda from my own caches at least two times on maintenance visits. But I've stumbled upon it in many other cases. Yup, ignore it and move on. Unless it's in your cache of course.

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no, proselytizing materials in caches are not appropriate, and yet they get left anyway by spiritual busybodies who consider themselves in a position to know what's best for you and think they're doing you a big favor.

 

if they bother you enough, you can trade them out and destroy them.

 

they make reasonably acceptable emergency toilet paper, and you might mention that in your log.

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I enjoy finding the occasional religious tract in a cache. I will trade fairly for one of my NC Sweet Potato tracts that I pick up at food shows. They are full of excellent recipes and nutritional information. It's also our official state vegetable.

 

Thank you for that link. I used some sweet potatoes in some special fishcakes today and as I have one large one left over, I had been wondering how to use it up...

 

Praise be! Lots of good recipes! :(

 

MrsB

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Is this really an issue to get so worked up over about? Why let seeing a card in a geocache make you so upset? If you dont want to read it, dont. Let someone else that would like to read it.

 

Right you are. I see these things ever once in a while. Like you, I do not get worked up over them either.

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no, proselytizing materials in caches are not appropriate, and yet they get left anyway by spiritual busybodies who consider themselves in a position to know what's best for you and think they're doing you a big favor.

 

if they bother you enough, you can trade them out and destroy them.

 

they make reasonably acceptable emergency toilet paper, and you might mention that in your log.

 

Now that's funny, I don't care who ya are.

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I enjoy finding the occasional religious tract in a cache. I will trade fairly for one of my NC Sweet Potato tracts that I pick up at food shows. They are full of excellent recipes and nutritional information. It's also our official state vegetable.

 

Thank you for that link. I used some sweet potatoes in some special fishcakes today and as I have one large one left over, I had been wondering how to use it up...

 

Praise be! Lots of good recipes! :(

 

MrsB

 

ebcb6899-5eb4-46be-9833-ed8931d46bf8.jpg

 

Trade even, trade up, or don't trade at all.

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I found a religious tract today in the W. Branch Farmington River- Steel Bridge cache at N 42° 04.225 W 073° 03.724.

 

Geocaching is not a religious forum and religious propaganda does not belong in a cache. Some of us find this material offensive. If you insist on propagandizing, at least take credit for your actions and put your name on your material so that the rest of us will know who the offending cachers are.

 

no, proselytizing materials in caches are not appropriate, and yet they get left anyway by spiritual busybodies who consider themselves in a position to know what's best for you and think they're doing you a big favor.

 

if they bother you enough, you can trade them out and destroy them.

 

they make reasonably acceptable emergency toilet paper, and you might mention that in your log.

 

You can always spot the bitter, and angry athiests in any group. :(

 

I find caches hidden underneath lamppost covers, in busy shopping centers offensive myself. I solved my problem by avoiding caches I dislike. The same thing applies for trade items. If you are so offended by religious tracts, search for log only micro. Whining about how offended you are, and expecting great sympathy for your victimization is very comical. :D

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You can always spot the bitter, and angry athiests in any group.

 

 

obviously you can't.

 

I always think it's funny when religious people toss out the word "athiest" like it's some sort of badge of shame they can put on someone. It's almost like being an athiest means you are stupid or something. What's funny is that, logically, athiests have a better chance of being right on the subject.

 

On topic...

I don't know why religious people need to convert people in order to keep their faith. If you believe in a diety, why do you need to get others to believe in the deity? Is your belief not strong enough so you need to get other people to believe with you? Why spread the deity specific literature? Does that make the diety more real?

What's the point?

 

No offense to any diety worshipping cachers is intended and post does not mean I am a heathenistic ignorant athiest either.

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I found a religious tract today in the W. Branch Farmington River- Steel Bridge cache at N 42° 04.225 W 073° 03.724.

 

Geocaching is not a religious forum and religious propaganda does not belong in a cache. Some of us find this material offensive. If you insist on propagandizing, at least take credit for your actions and put your name on your material so that the rest of us will know who the offending cachers are.

 

no, proselytizing materials in caches are not appropriate, and yet they get left anyway by spiritual busybodies who consider themselves in a position to know what's best for you and think they're doing you a big favor.

 

if they bother you enough, you can trade them out and destroy them.

 

they make reasonably acceptable emergency toilet paper, and you might mention that in your log.

 

You can always spot the bitter, and angry athiests in any group. :(

 

I find caches hidden underneath lamppost covers, in busy shopping centers offensive myself. I solved my problem by avoiding caches I dislike. The same thing applies for trade items. If you are so offended by religious tracts, search for log only micro. Whining about how offended you are, and expecting great sympathy for your victimization is very comical. :D

 

If you are going to post, please do so without including ANY personal attacks. Stick to the topic rather than posting characterizations of others. Thanks.

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You can always spot the bitter, and angry athiests in any group. :rolleyes:

 

I think I've spotted the person leaving religious tracts. :P

 

Nope,

 

Never left a tract in a cache, but i'm certainly not bothered by the mere existance of them. Most cachers should be mature enough to handle cache "issues" like adults. Using the forum as a podium to share victimhood, and intolerance of other views is childish.

 

To the original poster,

 

If the religious tracts were so offensive to you, all you had to do was remove them from the cache. Instead, you chose to call out the cache owner by posting the cache coords, like it was there fault. Anyone could have placed that tract in that cache. Move on, it is easy.

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Using the forum as a podium to share victimhood, and intolerance of other views is childish.

 

 

 

it's interesting that you choose to express your scorn for people by making it sound as if not liking a thing translates to victimhood.

 

victims, where they exist, are not a subhuman class.

 

i don't happen to like racism. i've never been a victim of it; i just don't like it.

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I enjoy finding the occasional religious tract in a cache. I will trade fairly for one of my NC Sweet Potato tracts that I pick up at food shows. They are full of excellent recipes and nutritional information. It's also our official state vegetable.

 

Thank you for that link. I used some sweet potatoes in some special fishcakes today and as I have one large one left over, I had been wondering how to use it up...

 

Praise be! Lots of good recipes! :P

 

MrsB

 

ebcb6899-5eb4-46be-9833-ed8931d46bf8.jpg

 

Trade even, trade up, or don't trade at all.

 

I couldn't agree more B)

 

I love sweet potatoes :rolleyes:

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I enjoy finding the occasional religious tract in a cache. I will trade fairly for one of my NC Sweet Potato tracts that I pick up at food shows. They are full of excellent recipes and nutritional information. It's also our official state vegetable.

Thanks again for the tract you sent me - comes in handy, particularly this time of year! Yum! :rolleyes:

 

Oh, religious tracts - I have CITO'd them from my caches, along with other propaganda, but in other caches I often leave them. Usually not worth being annoyed about.

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Some of us find this material offensive.

I giggle like a school girl every time I hear stuff like that. I can just imagine you sitting at home, watching the Charlie Brown episode involving The Great Pumpkin, (described as a deity), or Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, starring Santa Claus, (another deity), in a support role, and gnashing your teeth in angst as you are bombarded by such offensive images.

 

Do you know what my personal, spiritual beliefs are?

 

If I told you, would you be offended?

 

Do you know my favorite flavor of ice cream?

 

If I told you, would you be offended?

 

Swag, so long as it's not prohibited by the guidelines, is just swag.

 

You might as well get all worked up over Hotwheels cars or business cards. :rolleyes:

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I found a religious tract today in the W. Branch Farmington River- Steel Bridge cache at N 42° 04.225 W 073° 03.724.

 

Geocaching is not a religious forum and religious propaganda does not belong in a cache. Some of us find this material offensive. If you insist on propagandizing, at least take credit for your actions and put your name on your material so that the rest of us will know who the offending cachers are.

 

There are a lot of things that don't belong in a cache. Try asking for the names of people who leave doot, doop, broken toys, broken garage door openers, beer tabs, painted washers, ABC gum, expired coupons, ticket stubs, used kleenex, unspent ammo, porn, sweet potato pamphlets...

 

Of all the things in this world I dislike, I think I'll find something that actually matters and will make an effort to get rid of it.

 

stepping away for awhile.

Edited by BlueDeuce
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I always think it's funny when religious people toss out the word "athiest" like it's some sort of badge of shame

I think the key words to his post were "angry" and "bitter", not Atheist. An Atheist is naught but someone who holds a particular belief system. Much like the term Buddhist, Agnostic, Taoist, Christian and Islamic. Most of the folks in those categories would not be offended by literature they did not happen to agree with. They would simply shrug and move on. However, an angry, bitter Buddhist, Agnostic, Taoist, Christian or Islamic might react differently, up to, and including ranting about their encounter in a public forum.

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I remove the religious tracts from my caches along with all the other paper swag because it degrades very quickly, either because of the elements or from being jostled around inside the cache by other things (like golfballs)

 

I used to get upset over stuff but not anymore

 

The world is an offensive and inappropriate place most of the time, if you let it get to you too much, you might as well just stay in bed.

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Religious and commercial content on swag is not covered. Feel free to ignore it and move on. :rolleyes:

 

Either ignore it or remove it. You're free to do whatever you want with the contents of a cache.

 

ayep. Hey, if you think you are doing a service to the community have at it. As long as you Trade even, trade up, or don't trade at all.

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<snip>Using the forum as a podium to share victimhood, and intolerance of other views is childish.

</snip>

 

Like, um, in forum signatures?

 

You mean referincing the President who indebted us 1 trillion to save 30,000 jobs? Now the rest of the world is dropping the US currency due to it's poor value. All part of that global government that the Bible prophesied about. :rolleyes:

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Propaganda is neutrally defined as a systematic form of purposeful persuasion that attempts to influence the emotions, attitudes, opinions, and actions of specified target audiences for ideological, political or commercial purposes through the controlled transmission of one-sided messages (which may or may not be factual) via mass and direct media channels."

—Richard Alan Nelson, A Chronology and Glossary of Propaganda in the United States, 1996

 

Propaganda is, of course, anything with which one disagrees. Some religious groups require proselytizing. (Most do not.) If putting the literature in a cache fulfills that requirement, I should guess that is a cacher's prerogative. The list of items not permitted has been listed. Propaganda is not on that list.

Since the propaganda is considered swag, one should trade fairly for it. And then discard it. The value to me, as a swag trader, of religious propaganda is nil. Leaving a penny in its place would be 'trading up'.

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If the cache is on a churches property (with permission and all that jazz) I see it as perfectly exceptable, but like said before I see it also as advertising otherwise., besides its supposed to be for all ages, and I believe you shouldn't promote religion to children......that's the parents responsibility, not all cashers are christian, or jewish, or muslim, or catholic, or wiccan, or buddhist, or native american, or pagan, or, or, or, so unless its on religious property leave it out

Edited by raven_spirit
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I tend to think of religious materials as attempts to educate or inform rather than to spread propaganda. I may or may not agree with the information but I do think the majority of folks who place these materials honestly believe they are providing useful and valuable information. Of course there are groups that are just a bit extreme and are only trying to impose their views on others. This applies to religious information and to non-religious information. I appreciate those who are trying to educate and inform. I don't care for those who are trying to impose their views on others.

 

I don't take offense to any of it since it is so easy to ignore if I choose to.

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I found a religious tract today in the

 

Geocaching is not a religious forum and religious propaganda does not belong in a cache. Some of us find this material offensive. If you insist on propagandizing, at least take credit for your actions and put your name on your material so that the rest of us will know who the offending cachers are.

 

The last I heard, the 1st Amendment was still in effect. It even covers religous tracts.

 

If you are offended by this material, ignore it. And, leave it alone.

 

And FYI, I don't like them either.

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I don't take offense to any of it since it is so easy to ignore if I choose to.

 

You hit the nail on the head there. I think some people find it a bit hard to ignore. I think we need to choose our battles. If I could demand things and make it happen, no travel bugs would go MIA, eh?

Edited by BlueDeuce
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I don't take offense to any of it since it is so easy to ignore if I choose to.

 

You hit the nail on the head there. I think some people find it a bit hard to ignore. I think we need to choose our battles. If I could demand things and make it happen, no travel bugs would go MIA, eh?

You betcha! :rolleyes:

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I tend to think of religious materials as attempts to educate or inform rather than to spread propaganda. I may or may not agree with the information but I do think the majority of folks who place these materials honestly believe they are providing useful and valuable information.

 

We share the same view.

 

Of course there are groups that are just a bit extreme and are only trying to impose their views on others. This applies to religious information and to non-religious information. I appreciate those who are trying to educate and inform. I don't care for those who are trying to impose their views on others.

 

I don't take offense to any of it since it is so easy to ignore if I choose to.

 

A great example are the "Chick" tracts that are on the extreme side.

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<snip>Using the forum as a podium to share victimhood, and intolerance of other views is childish.

</snip>

 

Like, um, in forum signatures?

 

Have to admit, this one really gets to me.

People who put their political agenda in their forum signature. Ugh. Like i want to hear that.

This is a game people. Keep it fun.

 

The other things I find funny in this thread is that some people assume if you don't subscribe to the religious literature found, then that means you're atheist.

Well I don't subscribe to the literature, and I dont' like it, but I'm not atheist by any stretch of the imagination.

There are many religions you know.

 

If I find anything, I just do what I recently did to the political garbage i found in one cache. I Traded for it (even though it was less than worthless) and ripped it up and threw it out on my way out of the park.

 

My boyfriend, who is much less religious than I, and is almost atheist, took the plastic glow-in-the-dark nun out of one cache and carried it around a while, then placed it into another. Didn't let it get to him.

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You can always spot the bitter, and angry athiests in any group. :rolleyes:

 

I think I've spotted the person leaving religious tracts. :P

 

Nope,

 

Then I think you've guessed my point.

 

Never left a tract in a cache, but i'm certainly not bothered by the mere existance of them. Most cachers should be mature enough to handle cache "issues" like adults. Using the forum as a podium to share victimhood, and intolerance of other views is childish.

 

I have a hard time with your concept that talking about a problem is somehow impature and childish.

 

The forum gets used for all sorts of inane/petty/inconsequential things. Discussing something like this is actually well within the purpose of the forums even if you personally don't care one way or another. Useing geocaching as a forum to push a personal ideology is a serious topic since it can have a serious negitive impact on the perception of geocaching for those who are new to the sport.

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