How do you handle family who keeps giving you Christian gifts when they know you're an Atheist?
(In this case, it's my In-Laws...)
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Start giving them Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins and Penn Jillette books? That's one thing I'd probably do.
Or, keep them for a little while... Then give them back, say something like "Thank you very much, but this one was defective."
If they can't get the message, I'd just use humor or something similar to fight back, in a way. I have mormon extended family who excommunicated me because I wouldn't convert to their church... But they still send me gift cards and things for birthdays and xmas.
So... I always drop their gifts in their mailbox the next day. They haven't tried to accept me for who I am... So I refuse to accept their gifts.
Best of luck, man... We're all going to run across this sort of thing, if we haven't already.
My wife still doesn't seem to accept or "realize" that I'm an atheist, which is both sad and kind of funny.
Sell them on eBay or Craig's List. Or at a garage sale or a consignment shop. You might as well get some benefit from the stupid stuff.
That can be a pain, so here's another option: Keep them in a box and give them back, beautifully wrapped with their original card to you enclosed "by accident", on assorted occasions. You can save money and make a point at the same time. They may not get your point, but think of all the time you'll save by not shopping for people who never really shop for you!
That's brilliant!
Well as previously mentioned, you can send them atheist gifts back.
They would get the message, if there is still some sanity left in them.
An-other thing you could do is send them back swapped.
So if person A sent you object 1, and person B sent you object 2, send Object 2 to person A and vice versa.
saves you money on gifts, makes your "family" confused lol
"Why is he sending us christian gifts?"
He converted or what?
Wanna see their face when they ask you about it lol
That be priceless.
You can look at this from a utilitarian standpoint and simply sell the gifts for your own benefit, or if you wish to make a point and maintain your self-respect (it really depends on how you feel!), I would hand-write a letter explaining your position, attach it to the item in question, and return it to them in a civil and friendly manner :)
Why not just say thank you. They mean well.
What does it matter to you?
WD
How do you know they mean well?
read the question:
"How do you handle family who keeps giving you Christian gifts when they know you're an Atheist?"
If they mean well, you mean, giving you something they know you would not like, then you must have had a lot of bad gifts in your life.
When one means well, he would try to make an effort to find a gift that would be liked, not the opposite.
Also if "They mean well" = try to save your soul.
You cannot convert someone by sending him a book, you need years of brainwashing for that.
If it happens to me, I'd either return those gifts (which may upset them more) or just get rid of those however I can and not say anything about it. Hopefully, these kinds of people will eventually get tired of doing something like that, which obviously are of no use, especially if they see that what they do does not work and you do not bother with it.