Many atheists are familiar with the popular podcast The Thinking Atheist, which is an excellently produced show that covers a myriad of topics every week. Seth Andrews, the man behind the curtain, was a devout Christian for the first part of his life and worked in broadcast radio for years, both facts of which contribute a lot to the quality of the show.
Funeral at Heliopolis, 1915
Personally I’m not a fan of talk radio in general, which is no reflection on The Thinking Atheist but rather due to my own media preferences. The format of TTA is mostly call-in, which I find to be dicey, but Seth is very good at herding people around the topic at hand and keeping things on track.
Recently in mid-September TTA had a show on “Atheist Funerals” which was fascinating. I highly recommend it (assorted links at end of this post) if you have some time to listen in.
One thing I thought to comment on while listening to this is the importance of considering how we will deal with funerals, not just in the planning of our own but those of the people we love. Can you, as an atheist, in good conscious plan the religious funeral that your parent or spouse would want?
I did so for my mother despite my reservations; as a second wave feminist my mother’s thoughts on organized religion were harsh but as a former Southern Baptist (her family’s background) she found it impossible to give up on the idea of “God.” She rejoined the Episcopal Church when she was diagnosed with cancer and it was an unspoken agreement between us that her decision to do so would never be discussed. When she died, she received a proper funeral at the church.
My father though, was a different story. At that point I couldn’t go through with it. As was mentioned several times in the podcast, funerals are for the living. I did not think that my father, who while a believer in “God” was hardly committed to sacred rites or traditions, would have cared one way or the other. He certainly never gave me instructions about it. So despite dire warnings from the pastor and deacon, I chose not to have a funeral for him.
But these decisions were after-the-fact. In a crunch with real life crises pressing down on me and my whole world crumbling apart in my hands, I had no other alternatives.
We hate thinking about these things, for they are morbid and depressing. I get that. What is worse, though, is being caught in the cross-hairs of what needs to be done, what people want to be done, and how you feel about doing it.
Plan ahead. Even if it’s just a thought exercise, plan ahead.
Links:
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inckTkLX6C0&feature=colike
Blogtalkradio: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thethinkingatheist/2012/09/18/the-atheist-funeral
Also available on iTunes
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Photo copyright Ellen Thompson, used with permission under CC copyright.
