Atheist Funerals

[Hamradioguy]

I've been to just about every kind of service ranging from a high level Catholic Mass for the son of a co-worker through non-denomonational to just a simple rememberance. When a very close cousin died a couple years ago there was no funeral (She was esentially an Atheist) but there was a large public service of rememberance at City Hall in NYC, (She was a CBS reporter who covered City Hall for years.) with no religious overtones. Later we had a small family gathering where we scattered her ashes over her beloved garden.

Services for the non-religious tend to be just rememberance services, perhaps with music or poetry, but no Bible quotes or hymns.

BTW, I believe the cremation charges for my Mom were around $100, up from $75 several years before....inflation and all you know. Vermont is one of the few states that allow do-it-yourself funerals and burials. No requirement for embalming either, and it's pretty liberal about scattering of cremains. (When my Grandfather died my Grandmother
spent thousands of dollars that she really couldn't afford for state-of -the-art embalming, top of the line hardwood casket, and a concrete burial vault that was capable of withstanding a nuclear blast and lasting for ten thousand years. I'm sure Grandpa is still spinning in that casket over such a waste of money.)

 

[Syameese]

My brother-in-law died recently and he had the most fabulous send off at the local surf club with the coffin placed in front of large windows overlooking the beach. He had specified a non-religious celebration and this was largely adhered to, but the celebrant did include a couple of prayers. Initially I thought that was a bit ordinary, but as others have noted the funeral is really for the living and his sisters are really devout Catholics, so I understand why the prayers were included.

Both my wife and I have left written instructions that there is to be no religious aspect to our funerals, but our wording pales in comparison with the hand written instructions my grandmother left which included the following statement:

"No God-bothering and no looking in the box"

She was a treasure

 

[devnull]

My response, "I don't care. I'll be dead."

Naughty! You should really register as an organ donor, and take more of an interest with what they do with you when you die.

My instructions to my missus: "Despite your catholicism, my wishes are that when I die the organ transplant team are about 2 seconds away, and the child with the crapped out liver/kidneys/heart/eyes are in the next room".

Your soul might be worthless, but the bits you leave behind are extremely valuable for about 5 minutes