humanist weddings and funerals are now the most popular over here in scotland no bullshit reqd

I went to a funeral of a friend with whom I had discussed all sorts of philosophical beliefs including her concept of the afterlife. It was downright hurtful to hear the minister go on about her when he obviously knew nothing about her. It was like he was doing a sales pitch for his church rather than saying anything to pay respect to this fine woman who had died. Utter bullshit from the clergy is right.

Agreed. I walked away from one years ago, I’ll always miss the guy in the casket, but he’s not coming back ..and I didn’t go there for a sermon…

The further you get away from organized religion, the more ridiculous the religious services seem. They are for the survivors who are still strongly religious, or those who want to honor the deceased strong religious spirituality. Over time, more funerals (and weddings) will lean toward the celebration of life type, with more humanistic and worldly references.

It's been years since I've attended a religious service, since I now perform weddings and funerals for a living, all humanistic style, but it's those strongly religious services that pushed me into becoming a funeral celebrant myself.

Many years ago, I attended many many religious funerals in a short amount of time for relatives and close friends, and they did nothing to address the grief or honor the deceased. It was when I went to a secular funeral service, held in a gymnasium, for someone I didn't know personally, that I learned what a funeral service should be... a celebration of that person's life, a tribute to their legacy, and a way to bring their passions and values into your own life going forward. That is when I decided "this is what I want to do with my life" and I did.

Something as important as paying respects to a person's whole life shouldn't be a regular religious worship service with a token "insert name here" type tribute. It does nothing to help open a window for the grief to leave and the treasuring of their personality to take root inside you. A funeral service, celebration of life or memorial should be inspirational for all the survivors and mourners. There are ways to make the service touch all, the religious and secular, but a traditional church service isn't likely to do that.

well... they can be comforted with the fact that they are now in heaven.

yea that's bullshit