My partner’s family are Baptists. I’ve been to two family funerals since we got together, for both his grandmothers. Both were performed by the same asshole preacher who calls himself Dr. because he has a fake Phd from an unaccredited religious diploma mill. Both funeral services were all about how all the people who…

My eye opener was when some preacher stood up and told everyone my grandfather was burning in Hell...at my grandfather’s funeral. Since he wasn’t religious, I don’t know who had the idea that there had to be sermon, but still. Even if you think that way, you can keep it to yourself.

Wow. That is absolutely horrible. I hope your friend has been able to recover from that, at least somewhat.

The tax exemption bullshit really pisses me off.

I can see that. Humans are fundamentally imperfect creatures, however I find that those who tend to be more religiously inclined see themselves as being morally superior to those who don’t follow their particular belief system, as I experienced in my brief time in the Christian religion. I was constantly being told…

The beginning of the end of my (already tenuous) relationship with church and god began when my best friend killed himself when we were 22. He was brought up in a very Pentacostal home, with and uber-masculine dad. My friend came out as gay when we were 17. When he was 19, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He spent…

THERE WE GO. Fuck special treatment for religion. Just fuck it. Sure, you are protected from persecution. Fine...but fuck your tax free status and fuck your beliefs seeping in to my life in the form of laws and fuckery like this.

Careful with that assumption about funeral homes dealing with all kinds of people. Just want to direct attention to the fact that there are many funeral service providers the South that still segregate based on race in their death practices.

IKR? It’s almost like their Bibles don’t have the parts that say, Even as ye have done to the least of these so ye have done to me, or Let he who is without sin cast the first stone, or (my favourite) Judge not, lest ye be judged. And let’s not even get into the parts about how prosperity theology kinda totally…

For sure! WWJD? I’m sure he’d turn people mourning the death of a loved one away.

Prosocial. I learned a new word today. Thank you. And great post.

A very good friend of mine completely broke away with his church and religion a few years ago after his brother’s funeral. His brother, who had been dealing with depression, took his own life. The pastor thought his funeral was a good time to preach about sin. The entirety of the service was a speech proclaiming that…

I went to their website to send an angry email, like the hysterical liberal that I am, and they have a message on the front page denying that they ever refused this poor man service. HMMMMM. NOT EXACTLY BUYIN’ IT.

The special rights that we give churches in this country are fucked up.

I have never understood how completely devoid of empathy people can be. When someone loses their spouse, you bend over backwards to ease their pain. You don’t flip them the bird and make life even harder.

You have to be a special kind of asshole to refuse funeral services to someone. I have heard of churches doing this, too. This person’s loved ones are experiencing soul-crushing grief. You don’t have to be the humanitarian of the year to show some compassion.

I testified and the judge looked me in the eye and said “I’m sorry, but I cannot do anything; the statute of limitations has expired.” I was still a small child but I knew me not coming forward sooner had ruined these girls’ lives.

I dunno, I think his family and the legal system bears a significant share of the fault too in that case. He did the right thing, giving the adults around him the opportunity to do something to save those girls. They knowingly failed. I’m seething.

You still tried, which wouldn’t have been easy. To me that counts for a lot.

Can you imagine being so morally bankrupt as being paid to lobby against laws that would be of benefit to victims of childhood sexual abuse? You’re working on behalf of monsters who destroy entire lives.