Dude, three cheers for Charlatan, wish i had the guts to do that.

mormons baptize the dead

exactly secret. i have been to many funerals, mostly catholic, but from many faiths and have not seen the hijacking described. mind you i would be fucking pissed and without a doubt would say something to these people after they were done about the impropriety of what they did.

IMO, the people who do this are insecure in their faith and go beyond social norms in an attempt to gather people to them...sort of the strength in numbers thing.

these people will be quick to say that they are only trying to save persons, but that is bullshit. who gives them the job of trying to save anyone? why were they chosen?

we need to stand up to these people. they are just like the fundementalist muslims and mormons in the thinking that their religion is the only religion and if you dont believe their religion you will rot in hell.

ok, i'm getting a little steamed.

the easiest way to avoid this is to not give anyone a forum without knowing the agenda in the first place.

i also am with charlatan

I was raised Christian, but it is for these EXACT same reasons that I stopped going to church and stopped believing in religion altogether. The utter lack of respect for not only your friend John, but to the people attending the service is just sickening.

If it's a funeral held at a Church, this should be expected to some extent. Funerals can be religious services. There are certain boundaries that shouldn't be crossed though. Most priests have respect for other religions and will save the sales pitch.

If it's a memorial service held outside of a church it's completely inappropriate.

I've also seen this shit happen at weddings. A few years ago I was at a friends wedding (at a Catholic church) and the priest went on a rant about gay people and how they are all going to hell. This was way before gay marriage was even on the political map and the family was pretty shocked. I expected a religious service because it was in a church but the content did not match the context.

That is one thing that I do not like about my religion. There are a lot of fanatical, narrow-minded, distraught people out there. A lot of times they are troubled as well. My mother was a horrible abusive person, and married an abusive husband (to the children not her) she would sit around and watch him attack my siblings, and pretend it never happened. She would go to church and use that to say that she was a better person than my father and I. The world is full of f*cked up people, and sometimes there should be a law that provides for their removal off certain premesis. Lurkette, I understand exactly what you are saying and it irks me that people can be so ignorant about things, especially given the situation and it's nature. They are just parading around trying to make themselves look good, while at the same time belittling others. I find it to be equivilant to racism or any other discrimination. I have my own beliefs, and with those beliefs I have my own guidelines of how I see fit to follow them. I would have chosen to come to them if I felt otherwise.

My grandfather, a preacher did just this today. He was marrying a couple, and before service he said said if you're not saved you aren't going to heaven. He didn't stand up there for 20 minutes preaching. He said two sentences and got on with the show. I personally feel he had every right to say what he wanted because it is his church they were in and he was marrying them pretty much for free. He's felt bad about it all day though. He said people didn't take kindly to it, and maybe he shouldn't have but tt's done and he's not sorry for it.

I think this is very similar to the valedictorian being denied her diploma. If you have an open mic, then you should expect to hear something that you don't necessarily want to hear. My grandfather isn't the kind of person to preach to you if you don't wanna hear it. Even he doesn't think it's a popular thing to do.

It does little good to preach to a church full of christians, you If you had an opportunity to express your opinions to an audience you wouldn't usually have, wouldn't you do it? I'm not saying it's always right to do it, but It's a very tempting thing to do. If you believe with all your heart that what your speaking is going to help people, would you want to tell a something that already believes exactly like you or something that believes "wrong."

This happens everywhere. If a democrat see's your town already has the democratic vote, he's not going to do any good there, he's going to want to visit the republican states where he can "help" people make the "right" decision. If a pepsi spokesperson see's your drinking a pepsi, he's not going to tell you how good pepsi is, he's going to tell the guy drinking the coke how good pepsi taste.

Again, I think there are times to refrain from preaching your religion, or your politics, or anything else for that matter. If you do have to say it, make it quick. Funerals are time for mourning and rememberance, not cult recruitment.

Bar:<i>This is another reason to have my funeral at a bar or out in the woods.</i>

The funeral is a formality. The real event is the wake. It isn't even the drinking (although that sure helps), but being in an informal, intimate setting, sharing memories of the deceased with friends and family.

The only thing the living can do for the dead is to keep them in our memory. All the prayers, memorials, etc., come down the the same thing: remember them, and a little bit of them will live on in your memory.

Condolences on your loss, lurkette.

It's the balatant fear mongering that bothers me. Even if it was in an "appropriate setting", when your sales pitch includes the threat of eternal damnation you tend to come off as a little desperate (ie. you can't afford not to!). It sounds both offensive and ineffective to me.

I'm really steamed about this, and I don't think I'm gonna be effective at making my point, but well, what can you do?

This kind of thing pisses me off to no extent! Why is it that some people out there think that they have to have their noses in everyone's business?

Someone has passed away... Say a few kind words, and get off the podium. This isn't about the pastor/minister/whomever, these events are for the family and friends of the departed.

It is NOT their place to try and force their beliefs, opinions, facts, etc. on anyone.

Absolutely untolerable, I'm afraid that if that started at a funeral of someone close to me, I'd either have to leave, or stand up and say something to them about it.

coming from a Catholic.

a good quote comes to mind many a time.
"It's not God. God, I have no problem with. It's his fan club that I can't stand"

Why do they have to ADVERTISE so damn much?!
It's a funeral. I've gone to a few where they've overdone it to that extent. PLEASE, sometimes non-christians attend things to - for the reason of the funeral: To pay respects for the person who passed away. Not to hear another infomercial. Thanks to the Lord and prayers are required at a religious funeral, but not filling the ranks. There's a time and place for everything... There's also "Bad timing". I let people know about it - and that it's not appreciated, and that it makes the religion look bad. I hope others do as well.

I'm kicking around the idea that instead of a funeral. I want to have my friends throw the greatest kegger ever in my honor. This will be a party to end all parties: strippers, midgets, many kegs, maybe some coke, loud music, ect. The party will be called the "Nanofever's finally gone and died party". After the party, or perhaps before, they can toss my body in the ground, or burn it, or do the "Weekend at Burnie's" thing with it; I don't think I will really care at that point.

Also, people preaching at a funeral when that particular service is not DIRECTLY requested are supreme assholes. This action isn't the result of religion; this action is the result of assholes hiding behind religion as justification.

wow I can't believe this happned.
that's just ugh.....
If somebody did that to me I'd haunt them until they went sane(they're already nuts)

you worded it perfectly lurkette.