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PrayerQuote:The letters

And the funny thing is the people that sent the prayer request letters experienced the exact same rate of answered prayers as if they had prayed personally instead. It makes you wonder.

Very cute title for the thread, Mr. P.I think it's kind of sad the guy who found the letters on the beach would sell them. These people wrote what they thought would be private, personal letters to their church and/or pastor. And now they will be sold for public consumption. It's disheartening this guy would look to make a buck on these peoples' private confessions and pleas for help. Where's the decency?

Quote:It's disheartening this guy would look to make a buck on these peoples' private confessions and pleas for help. Where's the decency? Well...Churches have been doing this for years...why is this guy so wrong? Mr. P's place. I warned you!!!Mr. P's Bookshelf.The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.The pain in hell has two sides. The kind you can touch with your hand; the kind you can feel in your heart...Scorsese's "Mean Streets"I came to kick ass and chew Bubble Gum...and I am all out of Bubble Gum - They Live, Roddy Piper

Quote:Well...Churches have been doing this for years...why is this guy so wrong?Mr. P., I'm gong to assume that was tongue in cheek; because, lord knows just because a church does something, doesn't make it right. As my mom always said, it's not appropriate to derive pleasure from someone else's misery (we were never allowed to watch those cop shows, talk shows, etc.).Seriously though, I think the people who wrote those letters had at least a justified expectation of privacy. Most of them were private letters addressed to a specific person (of course, there were those addressed to an altar--weird). Anyway, just because they weren't properly disposed of, shouldn't make them available for public consumption. I don't think there is any legal prevention for the selling of those letters; but on a human level, it just shouldn't be done.

I wonder if Postal laws apply here? I mean, the letters were sealed and post marked...I believe it is a law that someone cannot open a letter addressed to someone else.And I wonder who dumped these. (I skimmed the article, and did not see this info if it is there). Was it the Church? THe post office?When does the respect for privacy end? I mean, if we find letters addressed to Abe Lincoln that are sealed, do we open them? There is Anthropological value to even mundane writings. Would it be ok to sell these and open them up if it were 100 years from now?Mr. P. Mr. P's place. I warned you!!!Mr. P's Bookshelf.The one thing of which I am positive is that there is much of which to be negative - Mr. P.The pain in hell has two sides. The kind you can touch with your hand; the kind you can feel in your heart...Scorsese's "Mean Streets"I came to kick ass and chew Bubble Gum...and I am all out of Bubble Gum - They Live, Roddy Piper

Well, a lot of privacy issues are circumvented when the person or persons who may be affected are dead. Therefore, there are things like medical records, even letters and journals, the contents of which are revealed after the people and their immediate descendants are dead. Take for instance Virginia Woolf's published journals. Or even consider Anne Frank's journal, her more explicit entries were not published until after her father had died--though I imagine if she had survived she wouldn't have minded her journal being published. As far as I understand it, in the U.S. privacy rights are usually argued around a justified expectation of privacy. That expectation no longer exists if there is no one left to lay claim to the privacy. I like your idea of legislature involving postal restrictions. I'll have to research it to see if it is useful in preventing the sale of postmarked letters. I believe though, since the letters were delivered, a lot of the restrictions would no longer apply. Postal services will, rightfully, claim they can't police the abuse of delivered letters until the end of time. I don't think it could be argued their responsibility extends that far.It's probably not illegal, it's just wrong on a human level.

It seems the fisherman had a change of heart.No Longer Selling Letters