Last week’s episode of Glee REALLY pissed me off.
Some people, when they go through something hard, reexamine their faith. For some people, it brings them closer to God, for others it makes them question whether God exists. And it’s good, when people are going through that kind of hard time, to let them know that they can count on your support in the ways that THEY find helpful, whether religious, emotional, or just helping out with the day-to-day details like errands that are hard for someone in crisis to deal with.
BUT (and I’m saying this as a religiously observant person) when you use a crisis as a way to pressure someone to take on your faith, or when you imply that any difficulty they are having in handling a crisis (or the fact that there is a crisis in the first place) is because they don’t share your faith, what you are doing is obnoxious, even obscene. It’s emotional blackmail, and it’s sick. It’s not what a friend does. You can ask if someone is okay with you praying for them. But you can’t ignore their wishes if they say no.
Lisa Batya Feld 