Date: August 20th, 2011 04:02 am (UTC)From:verloren1983
The problem here is that everyone has their own answer to that- I'm sure there are people that would say no- but I think it does. If someone knows I'm Atheist and still insists on telling me that my loved one is in Heaven/ with Jesus/ whatever else they can come up with, it strikes me as incredibly insensitive and RUDE. It's intentionally hurtful and disrespectful. (Of course, a lot of people are like that about Atheism anyway) The thing in the article of how you wouldn't tell a Jewish person that their loved one was with Jesus is a perfect example. It's EXACTLY the same thing.
However, sometimes people just don't know, especially since a lot of us aren't open about our beliefs due to the crap we get for it. They can't be blamed for that. The intention was not to hurt and that makes all the difference in the world, at least in my mind. Of course, that puts the person grieving in a dilemma, because then you're forced to either put up and shut up, or come out of the Atheist closet so to speak, and that can cause very badly timed problems. Honestly? I think the best thing to do is to leave religion out of it, unless you know for absolute certain where they stand religiously. In my experience, everything sounds pretty hollow when you've just lost someone anyway, so it doesn't really matter what you say. Might as well not risk accidentally offending them.
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Date: August 20th, 2011 04:02 am (UTC)From:However, sometimes people just don't know, especially since a lot of us aren't open about our beliefs due to the crap we get for it. They can't be blamed for that. The intention was not to hurt and that makes all the difference in the world, at least in my mind. Of course, that puts the person grieving in a dilemma, because then you're forced to either put up and shut up, or come out of the Atheist closet so to speak, and that can cause very badly timed problems. Honestly? I think the best thing to do is to leave religion out of it, unless you know for absolute certain where they stand religiously. In my experience, everything sounds pretty hollow when you've just lost someone anyway, so it doesn't really matter what you say. Might as well not risk accidentally offending them.