Christmas Special No. 2

When I was growing up, I had a good friend that I only saw two weeks out of the year at a family camp where we vacationed. Alan and I knew each other from the time we were infants until about fifth grade. After that, with one thing and another, we only saw each other a couple of times. He grew up, moved to Florida, had a family, and pretty much became a Fundie. I grew up, got married, didn’t have a family, and moved to New England, near where the family camp is located. Years later, I got his e-mail address from one of his nieces, and got in touch. We traded some memories, caught up a little, and exchanged invitations to visit one another. Every so often, he would send me religious “chain letter” e-mail. I was not openly critical of this. In fact, I was polite, and thanked him for his kind thoughts, and often made positive observations regarding the moral, or message of the letters without addressing the Christian spin. The end came when he sent me the “missing day” letter, and after my eyes uncrossed, I checked it out on Snopes.com. I sent him a carefully (I thought) crafted reply, explaining that I was getting a lot of similar mail and had taken to checking the veracity of such claims. I sent him the link to Snopes, explaining that this is what I had found. I never heard another word from him. Subsequent e-mails went unanswered. He received the letter from the pastor of his church (I know this from the e-mail header), and I guess I must be going to Hell for questioning his authority on the subject. Poor me.

Alan, wherever you are, I wish you and your entire family a very Merry Christmas. I feel no hypocrisy in doing so. I sincerely hope you are all well and happy, and enjoy the holiday in the way that seems most right to you.