tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5366621735995057721.post4613201381598660961..comments2024-03-17T09:17:01.454+00:00Comments on Vic the Vicar!: Want a neo-Pagan/confused funeral?Vic Van Den Berghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09581156515370131898noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5366621735995057721.post-39449493831894830072013-11-30T21:25:42.331+00:002013-11-30T21:25:42.331+00:00I am someone who has always distrusted "relig...I am someone who has always distrusted "religion", and I claim large parts of the Bible in justification of that (I enjoyed hearing Dawkins on the radio a while ago, criticising (not unreasonably in this particular case) something to do with some church group, but using the sort of rhetoric that could have come straight from John the Baptist).<br />Most religion, in my view, is an attempt to somehow put God/ the gods/ the spirit world/ the cosmos/ whatever somehow in your debt, to get something you have made yourself entitled to.<br />Seen in that light, some of these 2non-religious" services are, in fact, very religious.<br />JonGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5366621735995057721.post-69160159360777100492013-11-30T07:21:42.612+00:002013-11-30T07:21:42.612+00:00I actually think that the sharp practices of these...I actually think that the sharp practices of these people, who reach people in their grief and vulnerability should be banned.<br /><br />When someone is said to be 'not religious' does that mean that they were not baptized, because the reality is that most older people were, even though they might never have been in a church in years, or had deliberately turned away from church for various reasons?<br /><br />I think that funerals should be about hope, and a faith based funeral, whether Christian, Muslim, Jeswish or other faith, does offer some hope, because of their beliefs. Those described as Pagan, neo Pagan or Humanist actually do a disservice to those who've died and the bereaved, because their concentration on this life devalues the life they are supposedly celebrating, while consigning them to nothingness?<br /><br />There should be a requirement for undertakers consulted by a family to make proper and full enquiries about each individual, particularly seeking to ascertain whether they in fact were baptized, married in Church etc, which would point more towards a Christian funeral than one of these modern, faithless, dull mockeries.<br /><br />I've suffered several times, seeing people I knew well, consigned to this type of funeral, and they just felt, empty, hollow, with no real empathy or consideration of how family or friends felt, leaving us wondering what on earth we'd been too.<br /><br />The other stupid thing that happened at the end of a so called humanist funeral, the celebrant than said, "Lets say the Lords Prayer together" - what????<br /><br />At the funeral for my uncle in 2010, the celebrant, after talking about he being joined in that twinkling star in the sky by his pet dog, said "now a moment of silence for those who pray to pray" and shut up for 20 seconds??<br /><br />My Uncle's partner (they weren't married, although they were together for 30 years) had already been pushed out by his children in organising the funeral, was broken hearted. She was an Anglican and he'd been Roman Catholic. She couldn't bring herself to attend the wake and we and she sloped off to a different venue for a quiet lunch to remember him.<br /><br />Funerals without hope are just that, hopeless.UKViewerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18114944341930758335noreply@blogger.com