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Important atheist question:
When you die, would you let them bury your body or cremate it. Also, do you guys visit your dead loved ones graves?

Greenheart 7 Nov 4
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36 comments

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4

I have willed my body to the University of Texas Medical School. Once they take possession of it, it becomes their property to do with it as they see fit, which most likely will be used to train med students. After they are done with it, it will be cremated and the ashes will either be returned to my family (if they choose that option) or will be spread in the garden on their property.
I do not visit my loved one's graves as they are still very much alive in my mind and in my memories. which I do visit often and with lots of happiness to recall our times together.

3

Cremate me and spread me in my garden so I can still be useful.

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While I am not a religious person, I do visit the graves of those I have lost. I don't feel that it has any connection to religion tho. It is, on occasion, a way to honor their memory. At times it is a way to feel close to them again even tho they are still quite dead. It often is simply the only remaining link to another, unreachable world. Not one of heaven or hell, but one of the past, when we are all stuck firmly in the present. Sometimes, I just got their gravesides for the peace and quiet. Not many bother a person in a cemetery. As far as how I am dealt with in the end of ends, I would like to be burned to ashes and released where I grew up.

Byrd Level 7 Nov 4, 2018
3

I visit my brother's grave 2-3 times a year. He's only about 8 miles away so I go to sit and chat with him. It helps. My plan is cremation then I want my ashes mixed with tea leaves and served at a Xian prayer breakfast.

I want video footage posted online of the moment they're told they just drank an atheist.

3

I'd have no qualms with either, depending. I'd probably prefer just be laid out in nature to decompose. Cremation would be fine, but seems a waste of food (for all those bugs, etc). Burial isn't bad if they don't embalm me and do use a casket that decomposes. And, personally, part of me doessn't really care if the bereaved want to hold a religious ceremony...as I've always seen funerals as being primarily for the benefit of the bereaved and my stance on the matter is known.

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They can bury or cremate me, doesn’t matter cause I won’t know the difference ?
I don’t really visit anyone’s graves because I don’t feel like they are there and it’s not a comforting thing to me personally. I’d rather go to a place that we both enjoyed being together and think of those memories while I’m there.

3

I hope they give all of my organs to those who need them. I won't. What they do with my container after I pass is irrelevant to me.

And what kind of stupid question is "do you guys visit your dead loved ones graves"? We also cry, too, and get hungry, and sleepy. Some of us love animals, and all of us bleed when we're cut. I also like pizza and enjoy science fiction.

Just not following the connection between believing in magical deities and mourning the dead. If anything, those who believe in an afterlife and eternal paradise shouldn't be mourning their dead.

3

I have made it very clear that I want cremation, and no ridiculous, expensive, unnecessary funeral. I absolutely hate the idea.
No, I do not "visit" graves. I think it's a waste of time. They're dead. I hold no reverence for the dead.

The two biggest wastes of real estate on the planet are cemeteries and golf courses. I have no desire to spend time in either.

3

Donate to science like the great Christopher Hitchens.

3

I visit the graves of my parents and other family members once a year to make sure the graves are being properly tended to.

I don’t care what happens to my body after I die.

2

I could not care less what they do, so long as they don't revive it, and on the second point, no never what is the point?

2

Viking-style funeral.

2

The first part of your question doesn't make sense - when I die or after I die - I no longer exist and so what people decide to do with my remains isn't going to matter. If it did - I would have made arrangements in advance of my death. In terms of your second question - sure - I visit cemeteries as a tool to record my family history but I don't view the bones beneath the stone as being my loved ones - it's nothing more than the left overs.

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I have prepaid cremation. Nothing for anyone to do except make a phone call. Ashes will be scattered in the Gulf of Mexico.

2

Neither. I am donating any useable organ/tissue and whatever is left of my body will go to research. ??
I visit no one. I think it's sad to have graveyards. Family move away and then that grave is there, alone and far away (ex of my grandparents in Brazil cemetery). If I can pick cremation to my family members, I would.

2

Donate my body to science.. I'm not sure what parts someone would want.. But some med school could probably use my cadaver...

I don't really visit dead loved ones' burial sites. My dad was cremated and I think graveyards are just a waste of space. You are pretty much just worm food and their isn't really an angel watching over you - glad you visited in heaven..

2

I told my kids to surprise me. I really don't care if they leave me walking the streets, TBH, but I do favor cremation. However it turns out, I won't really have any viable opinion about it, so I'm not worried. I've gone to my mom's grave a couple of times, always with someone else. I spent plenty of time with her when she was alive, and sat with her in hospice and held her hand as she passed, so visiting a stone marker now seems like a needless vanity. I was there when it counted.

2

Creamate.... I am claustrophobic ?

2

i don't know where my folks are buried. the place printed on the yahrzeit candle turns out not to exist. i live in a different state. i don't need to see the dirt. they're in my heart. as for me, i don't know. i'll probably die before i decide whether to decide.

g

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I'd rather be cremated but don't really care. I don't visit graves ever. I actually don't give any thought to dead people. They're gone and no longer part of my life.

1

I would wish a natural burial a shroud instead of a casket, no embalming.

1

I will be cremated and my ashes scattered on the shore of one of my favorite fish spots. I have visited my father's grave no more than 4 or 5 times in in 46 years, primarily to show other family members where the grave is.

1

I haven't written my will yet but I'd prefer to be cremated. I see no value in sticking my corpse into a box and burying it.

I've never visited a deceased friend or family member at a graveyard and likely never will though all of my immediate family is still alive as are my friends. Though I could see visiting a grave as something cathartic so I won't say it's something I would never do.

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