# Religious salutations in business emails



## TreeTiger (16 Jul 2008)

An agnostic friend mentioned to me today that they are getting emails in work from someone who is addressing them as "Dear ____ in Christ,"  My friend does not find this appropriate, and would like to find a suitable but somewhat diplomatic response.
Any ideas?


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## NicolaM (16 Jul 2008)

Hi TreeTiger
It's be a bit delicate, asking someone to change the salutations they use in a letter I would think, whether your friend is agnostic or not.
Does the person actually write 'in Christ' at the end of the letter as the closing line, in lieu of 'regard'/'yours sincerely' etc?
I have never come across this before, it seems an unusual way to end a letter, especially if it is a business related one.
I have to be honest though, if I were your friend, I'd just leave this go.
Alternatively they could drop a line stating that as they are an agnostic, they would prefer if religious reference were not used in letters addressed to them. 
I would think that this might cause offence though, and possibly is a bit over the top to comment on it to the sender.
What do you think yourself?
Nicola


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## WaterSprite (16 Jul 2008)

Holy good Jeebus - are you serious?  There is a real business person mailing someone in such a fashion?  

I dealt with a fairly religious business organisation from Holland in a previous life, but they never ever actually brought religion into any dealings we had with them.  What's the background on the company your friend is dealing with?

If your buddy is selling Holy Water (or something else of significant value) to the Vatican, I'd suck it up (the address that is, not the holy water)...

I've never heard the like!

Sprite

P.s. if it's a customer, I would also probably let it go as Nicola M suggests.  If a co-worker, I'd have a word.


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## ClubMan (16 Jul 2008)

TreeTiger said:


> An agnostic friend mentioned to me today that they are getting emails in work from someone who is addressing them as "Dear ____ in Christ,"  My friend does not find this appropriate, and would like to find a suitable but somewhat diplomatic response.
> Any ideas?


Are they sure it's not spam? If not then what is the relationship between the sender and recipient? What is the context of the communication?


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## TreeTiger (16 Jul 2008)

NicolaM said:


> ... Does the person actually write 'in Christ' at the end of the letter as the closing line, in lieu of 'regard'/'yours sincerely' etc?
> ...
> Alternatively they could drop a line stating that as they are an agnostic, they would prefer if religious reference were not used in letters addressed to them.
> I would think that this might cause offence though, and possibly is a bit over the top to comment on it to the sender.
> ...



Thanks for your response Nicola, basically the person is starting, not finishing with the in Christ bit, in your case the email would start "Dear Nicola in Christ".

As to causing offence by asking for religious reference not to be used, I think this works both ways really, as the person emailing has no clue if my friend is Christian, Jewish, Muslim or whatever.  And if it were me I'm afraid I wouldn't be very diplomatic, I'm quite happy for people to enjoy their own religion but not for them to bring it to me in my workplace.

ClubMan, not too sure of the specifics but my friend is an administrator in a (non-denominational) place that deals with foreign students, and the religious emailer works in some sort of educational establishment, and is emailing my friend in relation to some of the students.


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## DavyJones (16 Jul 2008)

I don't know but maybe it is from a direct translation of a language that the e-mailer speaks, like our Dia dhuit and Dia is Muire dhuit.


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## WaterSprite (16 Jul 2008)

If your buddy does want to do something about it, perhaps a mail saying that "in Ireland, we don't generally use religious terms as an address; in some cases, people may find it inappropriate" - the mailer may be presuming that everyone in Ireland is a practising Catholic/Christian and may not realise that it's a little off to be adding religious references to emails in this manner.  I think it can be done with sensitivity as a sort of "heads up, this may offend people" in a general sense, as opposed to your friend pointing out that they are offended/annoyed/uncomfortable (or whatever!)

Sprite


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## NicolaM (16 Jul 2008)

TreeTiger said:


> As to causing offence by asking for religious reference not to be used, I think this works both ways really, as the person emailing has no clue if my friend is Christian, Jewish, Muslim or whatever.


Hi TreeTiger,
I didn't mean  your colleague causing offence by remarking on the religious reference, rather causing offence by taking someone to task over what salutation they were using , if that makes sense? 
That is truly odd though, what a strange way to address someone!
Nicola


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## ClubMan (16 Jul 2008)

TreeTiger said:


> ClubMan, not too sure of the specifics but my friend is an administrator in a (non-denominational) place that deals with foreign students, and the religious emailer works in some sort of educational establishment, and is emailing my friend in relation to some of the students.


Seems very vague. As mentioned earlier I would imagine that the precise relationship between the two parties would be very pertinent to what, if any, action might be taken to address the issue. Does it really cause your friend that much of a problem? As an atheist myself it doesn't really bother me in everyday verbal interactions when people say things like "god bless [you]", "god willing", "god help us", "please god" etc. They are normally just turns of phrase but even if they mean something more to the speaker - so what? I don't think it would be different if they put the same stuff in writing/email although I've never been faced with that.


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## Colblimp (17 Jul 2008)

Or perhaps your friend could just ignore it?  If that's all your friend has to worry about, I'd love to be in their shoes...


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## runner (17 Jul 2008)

Maybe ask them to change 'christ' to 'ireland'


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## wishbone (17 Jul 2008)

Colblimp said:


> Or perhaps your friend could just ignore it? If that's all your friend has to worry about, I'd love to be in their shoes...


I agree, we're all too ready to jump on our high-horses, at the end of the day what does it matter...I wouldn't care if someone sent to me Dear Wishbone in Christ/Jehovah or any other - surely the email isn't asking you to sign up?? to which you can refuse anyway...


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## Thirsty (17 Jul 2008)

I suspect DavyJones may have it right and it's a literal translation of a Salutation.

Many years ago, I was somewhat taken aback at being called "Lady Kildrought" in a spanish speaking country, until I (eventually!) realised that they were directly translating the respectful address of Senora.


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## ClubMan (17 Jul 2008)

wishbone said:


> I agree, we're all too ready to jump on our high-horses


Speak for yourself.


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## jhegarty (17 Jul 2008)

ClubMan said:


> Are they sure it's not spam?



I was thinking the same thing myself... no chance this relates to unclaimed nigerian gold ?


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## wishbone (17 Jul 2008)

ClubMan said:


> Speak for yourself.


 Good example!!


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## PMU (17 Jul 2008)

TreeTiger said:


> a suitable but somewhat diplomatic response.
> Any ideas?



Your friend could reply: "Dear ____________ in Aslan" ?


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## redstar (17 Jul 2008)

If the email content is ok, just ignore it.

Anyway, I think most people get more offended if the 'Dear ___' salutation mis-spelt the name or used the wrong name.


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## Bonafide (17 Jul 2008)

I imagine this is just the standard greeting that this person uses. I have seen the expression Dear brothers/sisters in Christ before. 

My advice would be to chill out. If that is what bothers them about their work then they are lucky and should be Thanking God.


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## TreeTiger (17 Jul 2008)

Bonafide said:


> I imagine this is just the standard greeting that this person uses.


Heard a bit more today but can't give much detail for reasons of anonymity.  My friend's job is to organise events of some sort for the other person's business (which is in Ireland), and there are several deadlines to be met in the course of arranging an event.  This person hasn't been meeting their deadlines.  Also he/she has not been using the religious greeting until the last couple of days.   My friend emailed the other day that the deadline issue was causing difficulty.  Next thing the other person started addressing emails to "Dear ____ in Christ".  

The person who used to do my friend's job said this happened them too, that the religious person used "Dear ____" in emails until the fact was pointed out that he/she wasn't meeting deadlines and therefore causing problems in my friend's office, and then the religious element entered the emails.

So my friend is just cranky that this person, who is already making life difficult, has changed their way of greeting but not their way of working!

I was just curious had anyone else come across a problem like this and what, if anything, they had done about it.  I've had to receive business emails from a couple of priests and they never put any religious greetings into their communications, although in that situation I personally would certainly have no problem with it!


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## PM1234 (17 Jul 2008)

Maybe the religious greeting is being taken out of context. 

The real issue is that the work is not up to standard. I'd suggest your friend deals with this professionally under the company guidelines/service level agreements as they would with any other colleague/contact rather than being sidetracked about what greeting is being used.


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## ClubMan (17 Jul 2008)

I agree with _PM1234_. If the situation is as described above then the real issue that your friend should be concerned about is the work being done (or not) by the correspondent and how to deal with problems in that area. The salutation, which it might irritate some people, in the greater scheme of things is hardly a significant issue that time, energy and resources should be wasted on.


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## DrMoriarty (17 Jul 2008)

Maybe your friend could adopt an appropriate 'sig' for use in their email correspondence with this character?

[broken link removed]


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## ClubMan (17 Jul 2008)

Or become a _Hindu _and make your salutation line "Dear .... in ...." infinitely long just to annoy your man?


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## dewdrop (18 Jul 2008)

If the email conveyed tidings of a win or some other good news would it still cause unease. When i was young i often put the initials S.A.G. on the back of an envelope being posted. Later in life i changed when circumstances  demanded the initials to S.W.A.L.K.  I hope i will not be censured for this levity.


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## j26 (18 Jul 2008)

Reply with "Dear _________, in Gaia.

That should get the message across without causing offence.


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## redstar (18 Jul 2008)

Or, because of missed deadlines use ...

'Dear ______ in exasperation'


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## TreeTiger (18 Jul 2008)

Brilliant, DrMoriarty!  I've emailed it to my friend.


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## ClubMan (18 Jul 2008)

Or how about _"Dear Colonel Mustard, in the library, with the lead piping" _now matter what their actual name, location or lethal weapon of choice is?


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## Gordanus (21 Jul 2008)

I usually just point out that I'm not a Christian.  She could put this as a PS in any reply.


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## Simeon (21 Jul 2008)

dewdrop said:


> If the email conveyed tidings of a win or some other good news would it still cause unease. When i was young i often put the initials S.A.G. on the back of an envelope being posted. Later in life i changed when circumstances  demanded the initials to S.W.A.L.K.  I hope i will not be censured for this levity.


Brevity is the soull of levity


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