How do you hold an Atheist Funeral

[Imaginary_Friends]

Considering that Atheists do not have a belief in an afterlife(usually) how would you hold a funeral for one?
Having been to a few funeral myself one of the most noticeable things I take notice in is that funerals are almost always held in a church and a pastor is present.
How would you make a funeral as untheistic and nonreligious as possible?

I personally wish to be cremated and have no funeral. I have never found death to be sad int he slightest bit.

Easy. Is there a Ralph's around here?

 

[Uberpod]

The pastor, quite frankly, completely ruined it and annoyed me and my mother by following it up with a rebuttal, taking issue with the "if" in the phrase "if there's a place where we meet all our kin, I know they'll be delighted that you're moving in if they've let the place go and the roof has caved in". His position, which he did not hesitate to share, was that there's no ifs about it, there is DEFINITELY a heaven.

What a jerk.

OMG - What poor timing for him to interject his beliefs. I wonder if a preemptive discussion with a pastor could provide a setting and a service tailored to the departed person and the person's worldview being honored.

 

[Sapiens]

You can hold my funeral any way that you want, or not at all, after all, I'm no longer in a position to care.

 

[psychoslice]

The same as any funeral, except keep god out of it.

 

[KnightOwl]

If you want to ensure a non-religious funeral, I recommend seeing an attorney who specializes in wills, estates, probate, and similar legal issues. They can draw up end of life directives that dictate things like the type of funeral or memorial that will be held. That can't keep others from holding their own services, but it can dictate what happens to your corpse and your "official" ceremony or lack thereof.

I know of at least one outspoken atheist who was given a Mormon funeral because they still had him on their books as a member.

 

[Katzpur]

I know of at least one outspoken atheist who was given a Mormon funeral because they still had him on their books as a member.

Well, you can blame his family for that.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Any ceremony can be made completely non-religious by simply not mentioning god or religion. It's really not that difficult.

You'd think.

When my Dad died, the funeral home offered an officiant for the memorial service. We didn't have anyone else in mind, so we agreed.

Turns out that the funeral home's go-to officiant was a local minister. When we told him that there was to be no mention of God or Heaven in the service, you would have thought we had asked him to do the service in a lobster costume - it was that much against his normal nature. At first he was perplexed - he assumed we meant we wanted it to be non-denominational ("no - no God at all"). Then he protested (which I kinda get - almost everything in his binder of material referred to God in some way). Finally, he agreed to do it under duress.

 

[jonathan180iq]

Funerals are for those left behind, aren't they? I don't understand, at all, the act of dolling up a corpse and oddly staring at it while serving up platitudes... I don't mean for that to be cold, but the focus is really on the suffering family, isn't it? People come by and comfort them and help them heal from their loss. The dolled body thing is an aspect of the modern funeral that just boggles my mind.

Show photos - show video - remember as your memory serves, not as a plastic human shell

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Funerals are for those left behind, aren't they? I don't understand, at all, the act of dolling up a corpse and oddly staring at it while serving up platitudes... I don't mean for that to be cold, but the focus is really on the suffering family, isn't it? People come by and comfort them and help them heal from their loss. The dolled body thing is an aspect of the modern funeral that just boggles my mind.

Show photos - show video - remember as your memory serves, not as a plastic human shell

Makes sense to me.

 

[LuisDantas]

Considering that Atheists do not have a belief in an afterlife(usually) how would you hold a funeral for one?
Having been to a few funeral myself one of the most noticeable things I take notice in is that funerals are almost always held in a church and a pastor is present.
How would you make a funeral as untheistic and nonreligious as possible?

I personally wish to be cremated and have no funeral. I have never found death to be sad int he slightest bit.

I truly don't think being an atheist is supposed to make any difference there. Funerals, after all, are for the benefit of those who survive the deceased, not the deceased himself. They are rituals of remembrance, acknowledgement, mutual support and acceptance.

IMO it is a mistake to inform them by the faith of the deceased. They should be guided by the beliefs of the survivors instead, albeit in respectful ways that do not attempt to overrule the deceased's memory.

I also think this is one of several situations where the difference between religion and belief in God matters. Funerals are religious or quasi-religious by their very nature - and like so many other religious matters, they are in reality quite indifferent to belief in God or to its absence. While there are those who seem to automatically jump to statements about God whenever they face the matter of mortality and its consequences, the two subject matters are very separate indeed. Atheists can and do miss their loved ones just like anyone else. We just don't (usually) claim to believe that there is an afterlife or anything of the sort.

 

[Monk Of Reason]

Considering that Atheists do not have a belief in an afterlife(usually) how would you hold a funeral for one?
Having been to a few funeral myself one of the most noticeable things I take notice in is that funerals are almost always held in a church and a pastor is present.
How would you make a funeral as untheistic and nonreligious as possible?

I personally wish to be cremated and have no funeral. I have never found death to be sad int he slightest bit.

I don't know about any of you but I would like to be propped up by an anamatronic robot and made to look like I'm playing "Hell's Bells" throughout the whole thing and hard liquor to be served.