I don't get it

[chenge]

I have always wondered about this,many people die without believing in God,not gods,,im talking about the LORD..

and my question is,why is it when someone dies,some not all,their casket or coffin is taken to a church,where a priest or pastor conducts a seremony,and at the graveyard a Psalm 23 is read,,WHY??why can't the relatives do something else,especially in those situations where someone was very outspoken about their atheism,whats the point??

by the way,my point is the same heaven you refuse to look up to here on earh when alive,,you WILL do it eventually,,aren't ALL buried facing upwards???hmmmm,,

not willing to start an i hate you thread,,i really want to know from those who have an idea,,

we, in a rather amusing panicked mix-up, ended up having not Psalm 121 but 21 at my Grandad's funeral.......it was only half way through that I realised "shit this isn't the one we meant"

The mind boggles at how some but not all the coffin/casket can be taken into a church.

"by the way,my point is the same heaven you refuse to look up to here on earh when alive,,you WILL do it eventually,,aren't ALL buried facing upwards???"

I think this is the best argument I have ever read in my life.

I supposed based on that theory we should all be buried on our sides............as I don't know too many people that walk around staring at the ground or up into the sky - most are looking where they're going

I plan to be buried blindfolded, or in a pair of those spy glasses that have mirrors inside the lenses so all you can see is what's behind you, just to fuck up chenge's dazzlingly astute observation.

My dad was an athiest but my mum is a christian so dad had a church service because thats what brought comfort to my mum.

He wanted to be buried at sea so we put his ashes on the Mersey River. We took a ride on the Mersey ferry, when we got down river, they turned the boat and shut off the engines. My Dad had worked on the ferries and was in the union so a couple of people said a few words and psalm 23, the seaman's version was read out.

The lord is my Pilot;
I shall not drift
He leadeth me across dark waters
And steereth me in the deep channels...

Then they blew the horn as a sign of respect and we put his ashes on the river and threw in a wreath and some lillies. It was a beautiful and fitting goodbye.

They even had a special board with a velvet cloth over, to slide the ashes in to make sure they didnt get blown everywhere.

Oh sometimes a superstitous funeral can be organised as a deliberate act of malice. Say someone who is gay but has madly superstitous, homophobic parents, happens to die. The parents, being next of kin(unless the deceased has a civil partner) can legally take the body and arrange a funeral crammed with superstitous woo and bollocks and indeed bar the deceased's partner and 'immoral' friends from attending.

God SGB, you see a conspiracy theroy in everything.

I'd like to go like the old Chairman of ICI, cremate me, and split the ashes in half.

Put half into fireworks and have a big send off after a frankly, quite boozy wake.

Make the other half into a diamond and embed it on the inside of a gold ring, so that I would always be close to my son.

Oh, I know that recycling tends to occur regardless, but in a woodland burial you have a totally biodegradable coffin, and no marker etc. I like the idea of my resting place being forgotten, so that no-one feels obliged to visit or clean headstones etc.

Perhaps I'm a bit morbid generally.

Not morbid at all, but I actually like visiting my nans' grave when I go home to Wales. Sort of like checking in, and touching base. I'm not religious, it's just nice to have her in the homeland.

Same with my husband, if he'd been killed in Iraq I'd still want to bring him home. Luckily for me he came home in one piece.

What is it with the double commas and full stops?

My dad was atheist. He had a catholic funeral because there was no other option where he lived (rural Ireland). We always told him he'd have to dig his own hole and work out the legalities if he wanted to be buried on his farm!

Moondog: someoen was asking how/why athiests might get buried with superstitious ceremonies and I simply pointed out an example of how that might occur. BEcause (as is often pointed out on threads about WHy You SHould Marry) if a person is unmarried, his/her legal next of kin is usually parents, and therefore parents of a dead adul would be entitled to hold the funeral according to their wishes and ignore the deceased's friends if they disapproved.