Quote:
Originally Posted by danielf
I'm not sure why an Atheist funeral would need someone preaching that this was the end. It seems a little perverse to me. Is there any need to make up for religious content with specifically Atheist content? If people want comfort and reassurance they should go to mass. Not to a funeral.
None of the funerals I've been to had any religious content. Speeches were about the deceased. Not about whether there is an afterlife or not.
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Nobody chooses to go to a funeral. Your loved one dies, you get out your black tie. It's just what happens. You wind up in a room full of people who are just as torn up about events as you are, and at some point many of those in the room are going to wonder about the meaning of life (and death). Culturally we are accustomed to airing those questions, and their possible answers, at funerals. The hope of seeing your loved one again is comforting, even in the midst of grief.
So no, people don't get up in the morning feeling like they need a comforting day and then going looking for a funeral to attend. But when they get up in the morning and they have a funeral to attend, they may well go to that funeral hoping for some comfort.
They didn't get any from the smug atheist at the funeral I was at recently. Sadly, he made a basic error that I have seen many like him make - assuming that a lack of commitment to a religion equals a commitment to atheism. His world view (which, to be fair to him, he was invited to share) served only to cause further anguish to the immediate family, whereas he seemed to assume he was in like-minded company.