I am not the world's greatest speller, but having spell checked the word 'organisation' yet again, I find that I am still spelling it correctly.... still...

So, why do I get so many emails telling me that I have spelt this word incorrectly? In fact, the alternative spelling I am given, 'organization', comes up as being spelt incorrectly in my spell check....

Why is this? Is my spell check faulty?

Or maybe I am not from America, and we do not spell 'organisation' that way?

Also, we have many American resources listed at CBD-Search, with American spellings in their resource descriptions. So, why do so many British people also complain about the spelling at CBD-Search? They only mention the American spellings (of course), simply stating that the spelling on the site is atrocious, including words such as 'color' and 'analyze' as examples.

At CBD-Search, we try to stick to a British dictionary (no, I am not British), although I admit that we have lost some consistency over the years. But when it comes to resources, we expect that the Resource descriptions will be consistent with the English dictionary of the resource/submitters country.

I am in fact a New Zealander, and I am amazed that I have not yet had any spelling complaints from citizens of any country other than America and Britain. And of all the emails I have received, under 1% of them have been helpful, the rest either complaining about a specific, correctly spelt, British/American word, or generally slating British/American English in general.

So, why this war? And more importantly, why are we Christians wasting our time fighting such a meaningless battle when there are more important things to do?

There are, as we well know, many people with very strong views on particular matters of doctrine, helping to create enemy camps within our own Christian family, which has always worried me very much. Yet I am surprised to find that I receive more emails from people stressing about spelling issues than I receive regarding matters of faith.

I think that if we Christians stopped fighting about the less important matters of doctrine (that do not relate to our salvation or relationship with Christ and his church), stopped fighting about spelling, and stopped feeling offended when we feel our personal relationship with Christ is being questioned, we could use that energy in so many other more beneficial places.

For more on spelling, please refer to HeyDan Development - Document Improvement Service - The English Language