A U.S. man who found 300 letters to God floating in the Atlantic Ocean said on Friday he will donate them to a church instead of selling them on eBay following protests from religious people.

The letters, sent to a deceased(1) Baptist(2) clergyman(3), mysteriously wound up(4) in a sealed plastic shopping bag near a beach in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Bill Lacovara, an insurance adjuster from Ventnor, New Jersey, said he waded out(5) to get the bag while on a fishing trip last week.

The letters were addressed to the Rev.(6) Grady Cooper of Jersey City, New Jersey, who died in 2004. Someone cleaning his house may have discarded(7) the bag, which Lacovara found about 100 miles (160 km) from Cooper's residence.

They include one from a teen-age girl asking God to forgive her for having an abortion(8), one from a prisoner who said he was innocent and wanted to be at home with his family, and one from a man who wanted God's help winning the lottery, according to media reports.

Lacovara said he could have auctioned them off on eBay for up to $15,000 (7,889 pounds) and would have given the money to charity. But he has withdrawn them from the online auction service because he said the move offended some religious people.

"There were a lot of religious fanatics(9) that were very insulted," he told Reuters. "They said they were disappointed in me, and I didn't want to do something that's going to create bad vibes(10)."

Some urged him to burn the letters, throw them back in the ocean or give them to a church, Lacovara said.

Lacovara said about a dozen clergymen have offered to take the letters, and he is evaluating the requests to make sure the letters don't fall into the wrong hands.

一位美國男子在大西洋中撿到300封給上帝的信。本計(jì)劃在易趣上拍賣這些信件，但由于受到宗教人士的抗議，上周五他宣布會將信捐贈給教堂。

這些信被放在購物袋中，是寄給一個已故浸信會牧師的，竟神奇地出現(xiàn)在新澤西亞特蘭大附近的海灘上。

新澤西文特諾保險理算員比爾·拉克維拉說他上周去釣魚的時候發(fā)現(xiàn)了這個袋子。

收信人是新澤西的格萊迪·庫珀，已于2004年逝世。可能有人在清理他的房間的時候丟掉了這包信，拉克維拉撿到信的地方距庫珀的居住地僅為100英里(160公里)。

據(jù)報道稱，其中一封信來自一位十幾歲的小姑娘，祈求上帝原諒她做了墮胎手術(shù)； 一封來自一名囚犯，他說自己是無辜的，希望能和家人在一起；還有一封信請求上帝幫助他贏彩票。

拉克維拉說他本能在易趣上以1萬5千美元高價拍賣，然后將所得款捐贈給福利機(jī)構(gòu)。但是他取消了在線拍賣，因?yàn)樗f這個行為使一些宗教人士十分不滿。

他對路透社說：“很多狂熱宗教徒感覺受到侮辱。他們說對我感到失望，我不希望這件事情使我們之間產(chǎn)生隔閡。”

拉克維拉說有些人讓他燒掉信件，重新扔回大海或者捐贈給教堂。

拉克維拉說大約有十幾個牧師請求帶走信件，他依然在研究這些請求，以免信件落入“壞人”之手。