Religious comments during crisis or natural disasters that make you shake your head

[Keith&Co.]

I worry that whenever I die there will be a lot of religious verbiage and other garbage added into my funeral.

To whom will you complain if there is?

Won't have to.
If there's a sermon at my funeral, my kids will heckle.
If anyone says 'he would have wanted it that way,' at the reception, they'll start throwing food.

 

[funinspace]

Well you do get non religious people use phrases like for example: OMG or Oh God etc in situations be it though an expression. Perhaps we're just making an issue out of such a small thing - if not just another excuse argument against the saints.

Holy Zeus batman! People do that? How weird.

Next you'll be telling me you have never told someone to come over next Thursday, hinting that you really appreciate all that Thor has done for you? Or maybe you've talked about that great vacation in April, just teasing at your appreciation that the goddess Aprilis aided your festivities...its just a trifle...

 

[PyramidHead]

Well you do get non religious people use phrases like for example: OMG or Oh God etc in situations be it though an expression. Perhaps we're just making an issue out of such a small thing - if not just another excuse argument against the saints.

So many idioms and expressions in the English language are based around nonsensical/outdated concepts and figurative language. We still keep track of what day of the week it is by invoking pagan and Norse gods.

 

[funinspace]

Has anyone in history ever had a funeral for themselves that was publicly devoted to the Flying Spaghetti Monster religion, or Kissing Hank's Ass, or the Invisible Pink Unicorn?

I worry that whenever I die there will be a lot of religious verbiage and other garbage added into my funeral. Maybe I can prepare for it by making requests that it be explicitly FSM, KHA, or IPU though. That would be fun (or would be for me, if I was conscious during it).

Brian

On a more serious side note: Please do prepare for what you want for your funeral, as who ever is left that cares about you will appreciate it. It really sucks to have it left in your lap to figure out. My dad didn't deal well with the death topic so those conversations never really could get off the ground, and mom had turned into a not so pleasant version of Dori (of Finding Nemo fame) before we realized that they had nothing planned.

 

[Learner]

Holy Zeus batman! People do that? How weird.

Next you'll be telling me you have never told someone to come over next Thursday, hinting that you really appreciate all that Thor has done for you? Or maybe you've talked about that great vacation in April, just teasing at your appreciation that the goddess Aprilis aided your festivities...its just a trifle...

You must know ,keeping with the tradition - I enjoy the festive family gatherings at Christmas and its exciting to see what "santa" would bring me.

So many idioms and expressions in the English language are based around nonsensical/outdated concepts and figurative language. We still keep track of what day of the week it is by invoking pagan and Norse gods.

I suppose those that say religious comments at a funeral could be considered in sort of the same way as the above from an atheists POV. No harm done ... especially if that individual in passing didn't believe anyway!

 

[Keith&Co.]

No harm done ... especially if that individual in passing didn't believe anyway!

I would have to disagree.
The main target demographic of a funeral is not the passed individual. it's the attendees in the pews. It's the chance for them to grieve their loss and remember the individual up in the shiny box.
This should not be a time to confuse those people.

If I were, in some strange circumstance, chosen to speak at your funeral, Learner, I would not talk about how there's no god, no afterlife, and so on. I'd try to honor your actual beliefs, no matter what I personally felt to be true. Because the funeral should be about the memory of you, not an advertising opportunity for me.

Which would be why we get upset at people blithely talking about dead atheists in terms they would have found abhorrent to hear. Or any of those platitudes that honor the speaker's beliefs at the expense of the dead person's life.

 

[PyramidHead]

You must know ,keeping with the tradition - I enjoy the festive family gatherings at Christmas and its exciting to see what "santa" would bring me.

So many idioms and expressions in the English language are based around nonsensical/outdated concepts and figurative language. We still keep track of what day of the week it is by invoking pagan and Norse gods.

I suppose those that say religious comments at a funeral could be considered in sort of the same way as the above from an atheists POV. No harm done ... especially if that individual in passing didn't believe anyway!

There is definitely a difference, and you know it. Religious comments at a funeral are made at a time when emotions are high and the topic of death is staring everybody in the face, so whatever they believe or don't believe about the afterlife is at the forefront of their minds. During a funeral, people gather to remember a person who has died in a way that is genuine and respectful of who they were. Religious comments try to frame everything they did in terms of a belief system the person may not have even subscribed to. That's far removed from saying "bless you" or calling today Tuesday (Tiw's Day).

 

[Learner]

I would have to disagree.
The main target demographic of a funeral is not the passed individual. it's the attendees in the pews. It's the chance for them to grieve their loss and remember the individual up in the shiny box.
This should not be a time to confuse those people.

If I were, in some strange circumstance, chosen to speak at your funeral, Learner, I would not talk about how there's no god, no afterlife, and so on. I'd try to honor your actual beliefs, no matter what I personally felt to be true. Because the funeral should be about the memory of you, not an advertising opportunity for me.

Which would be why we get upset at people blithely talking about dead atheists in terms they would have found abhorrent to hear. Or any of those platitudes that honor the speaker's beliefs at the expense of the dead person's life.

Valid points... It should obviously be "made clear" to the whole procession, the people involved to carry out the wishes of the individual and for those as you say attending, to honour and respect the beliefs.

 

[Learner]

There is definitely a difference, and you know it. Religious comments at a funeral are made at a time when emotions are high and the topic of death is staring everybody in the face, so whatever they believe or don't believe about the afterlife is at the forefront of their minds. During a funeral, people gather to remember a person who has died in a way that is genuine and respectful of who they were. Religious comments try to frame everything they did in terms of a belief system the person may not have even subscribed to. That's far removed from saying "bless you" or calling today Tuesday (Tiw's Day).

If believers do make religious comments, they are NOT done with any direspectful intentions but are mean't with good thought with these high emotions. I agree though, he or she would have to be very mindful of who that person was to make any comments publicly.

 

[Keith&Co.]

If believers do make religious comments, they are NOT done with any direspectful intentions but are mean't with good thought with these high emotions.

Not always. At my grandfather's funeral, someone made a point of taking me aside to point out that Grandpa drank Coffee and that was going to prevent him from going to the highest Heaven.
This wasn't a good thought or good intentions. It also wasn't a platitude, but the meanness was still very apparent. At THE FUNERAL he had to confirm HIS beliefs at the cost of the emotions of the family.

But even if he somehow convinced himself that he was doing God's will in spreading that venom, it's exactly the sort of thing that's gag-inducing about the behavior of the Faithful in times of crisis.

 

[Rhea]

There is definitely a difference, and you know it. Religious comments at a funeral are made at a time when emotions are high and the topic of death is staring everybody in the face, so whatever they believe or don't believe about the afterlife is at the forefront of their minds. During a funeral, people gather to remember a person who has died in a way that is genuine and respectful of who they were. Religious comments try to frame everything they did in terms of a belief system the person may not have even subscribed to. That's far removed from saying "bless you" or calling today Tuesday (Tiw's Day).

If believers do make religious comments, they are NOT done with any direspectful intentions but are mean't with good thought with these high emotions. I agree though, he or she would have to be very mindful of who that person was to make any comments publicly.

What these "good intentioned" people fail to have is the empathy to understand the difference between
not meaning to hurt people
and
meaning to not hurt people.

I don't really give a shit about some religious narcissist's opinion that failing to consider the feelings of others is somehow "good intentions." It ain't. It's lack of caring. It always has been. ASSUMING that it's okay to say creepy religious insults to people because you ASSUME they believe along with you is not "good intentions," it's lack of caring.

They never get that.

 

[couch_sloth]

If believers do make religious comments, they are NOT done with any direspectful intentions but are mean't with good thought with these high emotions.

Not always. At my grandfather's funeral, someone made a point of taking me aside to point out that Grandpa drank Coffee and that was going to prevent him from going to the highest Heaven...

What an asshole!
Even if they do believe that, they should have kept their trap shut.
I've never heard that one before, well not exactly... are they LDS?

 

[Keith&Co.]

I've never heard that one before, well not exactly... are they LDS?

Yes.
Grandpa's pharmacy had a soda counter. He had a habit of meeting with people who had problems, solving them over a cup of coffee. No problem, short of a war, was more than a 3-cup problem.



Or 4 if a woman was involved....


Anyway, according to LDS theology, hot drinks are forbidden. Good Mormons don't indulge. Not something we could do something about at the funeral, of course...

 

[James Brown]

I've never heard that one before, well not exactly... are they LDS?

Yes.
Grandpa's pharmacy had a soda counter. He had a habit of meeting with people who had problems, solving them over a cup of coffee. No problem, short of a war, was more than a 3-cup problem.



Or 4 if a woman was involved....


Anyway, according to LDS theology, hot drinks are forbidden. Good Mormons don't indulge. Not something we could do something about at the funeral, of course...

I thought it was caffeine that was forbidden (?)

 

[Keith&Co.]

I thought it was caffeine that was forbidden (?)

The actual prohibition was 'hot drinks' for they are a fire in the belly or something like that.

Some people figured that the problem with hot drinks was probably caffeine, so they decided that sodas were to be banned, too.

A few years back, though, the Church made it clear that sodas were not officially banned for Mormons. the whole 'hot drink -> coffee -> caffeine' connection was an invention of concerned scholars, not the direction of God.

 

[lpetrich]

My top 'Ugh' list would include:
1) At funerals of young people: "God must have wanted (her, him) for an angel." (Instant vomit.)

When God could have poofed one into existence.

2) At funerals in general: "(He, she) is in a much better place with no suffering." (Are we comparing insensate death to this shithole church with its garrulous pastor? Then maybe.)

Seems very sure that the dear departed will end up in Heaven.

4) After a natural disaster or economic catastrophe: 'What do you expect? This is payback from God for (our faithlessness/our tolerance of gays/our refusal to allow intelligent design in the schools etc. etc.)' (No comment seems commensurate with this level of flapdoodle.)

Many natural disasters don't hurt many people, so whose sins are they punishing? Hurricanes Harvey and Irma were followed by hurricane Jose, but that one has veered off into the Atlantic. Is it for punishing the sins of flying fish? About earthquakes, many of them happen in mid-oceanic ridges like the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Are they for punishing the sins of tube worms?

 

[bilby]

When God could have poofed one into existence.

2) At funerals in general: "(He, she) is in a much better place with no suffering." (Are we comparing insensate death to this shithole church with its garrulous pastor? Then maybe.)

Seems very sure that the dear departed will end up in Heaven.

4) After a natural disaster or economic catastrophe: 'What do you expect? This is payback from God for (our faithlessness/our tolerance of gays/our refusal to allow intelligent design in the schools etc. etc.)' (No comment seems commensurate with this level of flapdoodle.)

Many natural disasters don't hurt many people, so whose sins are they punishing? Hurricanes Harvey and Irma were followed by hurricane Jose, but that one has veered off into the Atlantic. Is it for punishing the sins of flying fish? About earthquakes, many of them happen in mid-oceanic ridges like the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Are they for punishing the sins of tube worms?

And if earthquakes are God's wrath, why are they concentrated at tectonic plate boundaries? Are the New Zealanders really THAT much more sinful than the Australians (apart from the thing with the sheep, of course)?

 

[Learner]

I don't really give a shit about some religious narcissist's opinion that failing to consider the feelings of others is somehow "good intentions." It ain't. It's lack of caring. It always has been. ASSUMING that it's okay to say creepy religious insults to people because you ASSUME they believe along with you is not "good intentions," it's lack of caring.

They never get that.

Assuming ...seems to be the right word here, unless those apparently "religious insults" are in line with insulting phrases such as the example; " May God damn or curse so and so".

 

[Rhea]

I don't really give a shit about some religious narcissist's opinion that failing to consider the feelings of others is somehow "good intentions." It ain't. It's lack of caring. It always has been. ASSUMING that it's okay to say creepy religious insults to people because you ASSUME they believe along with you is not "good intentions," it's lack of caring.

They never get that.

Assuming ...seems to be the right word here, unless those apparently "religious insults" are in line with insulting phrases such as the example; " May God damn or curse so and so".

I dont follow how this relates to what I wrote. You seem to be bringing up a new and unrelated point.

 

[Learner]

I dont follow how this relates to what I wrote. You seem to be bringing up a new and unrelated point.

I probably didn't follow you either.