There are some controversial subjects I avoid when it comes to caching. Usually, it’s because I think they really have no place in the hobby for one reason or another, but almost as often it’s because I don’t want to offend anyone on the other side of the subject. Politics is probably the biggest one I avoid. If you have been reading my work for a while, I think you can intuit my political leanings, but caching is one of the only spheres in which I have connection with folks on the other side; we can all keep our thoughts and feelings to ourselves on the path to a cache. The second biggest reason is one I know I’ve mentioned a few times over the years but was put in front of me yesterday by bad luck. If I’m going to talk about it, I might as well place a stone on the tengen.
<controversy>
I feel that religion has no place in geocaching. Admittedly, I’m not an especially religious person myself, but that has little bearing on this. There are cachers who are Christian and cachers who are Jewish. I know because I’ve met both. I have no doubt that there are cachers who are Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, and a plethora of other faiths, sects, and sub-sects (maybe even actual cults for all I know) even though I can’t confirm this from personal experience. Consequently, just as caches are required to be family friendly since cachers can be of any age, I feel caches should be areligious because I’m sure most people don’t want to plunge into another faith needlessly for a cache. Sure, you always have the choice to skip those caches, but why should one have to? I tend to give greater latitude to caches at a house of worship (it’s at a house of worship, after all), but I overall feel it’s something to be avoided.
Why am I even bringing this up? Yesterday, I decided to go for a cache (shocker, I know!) and I didn’t find it. There was another up the street about 540 feet away and I begrudgingly decided to go for it. I knew it would get on my nerves when I saw the cache name was the chapter and notation of a bible verse. I knew before I even got there that the central clue to the cache’s location would be the text of the verse. I’ve seen more than a few such caches before and usually read whatever I need to (I’m not religious, but I am literary) so I can find it. In this case, I was not incorrect. I pulled up the verse (the Internet makes that trivial) and used its famous wording to find a magnetic bolt that unscrewed to reveal a log within. And, as you can imagine, being as I live in Texas, it was very much Christian themed. The thing is, I know a number of Christians find other forms of Christianity offensive, even heretical. How would such folks feel about having to read from a sutra? Should a devout Hindu need to read a verse on Islamic messengers for a cache? How would someone feel about a Virtual or Webcam that required a photo of them in a religious pose? Especially if you don’t follow said religion? Yes, I know that photos aren’t mandated for Virtuals, but I hope you see my point. Wouldn’t it just be better for all parties involved to avoid the entire subject in the first place? I sure think so.
</controversy>
We now return to our regular programming.
