“What advantages does this war have over, say, an ethnic cleansing, which I could also afford?”

the typos actually LEND credibility iyam

Problem is, in some countries (like mine) we don't have any term that expresses condolence as good as "I'm sorry." Here in INA, that only means "forgive me" or "I regret that (implying regretting something YOU've done, not something that happen to somebody else)," and thus you don't have much choice of words to say…

I was at a funeral mass for a male relative several years ago. This family is Catholic to their bones. Deeply, deeply religious. Somewhere amidst all the Latin, the priest says, "[name] is in a better place." His widow screams loudly "I don't want him in a 'better place'! I want him here with me!" then breaks down…

"What doesn't kill you merely postpones the inevitable." (from Despair Demotivators)

I had to sit through a whole lot of that rhetoric last year when my mom died. She and pretty much my entire family are very religious, although most are not obnoxiously so (I am a very content agnostic). But I think folks mostly mean well and just wanted to make me feel better in the only way they knew how. Most…

Oh love. That's just so sad for you. I dont know how people survive the loss of a kid, but I know they do. When my brother died my mum heard some real clangers, but one that really hurt her was a nun who said "aren't you lucky to have an angel in heaven". Lucky. He was 8 when he died.

Nevermind that according to their logic God is the one that made the tornado and sent it after them in the first place.

The whole "God doesn't give you more than you can handle" can actually have some pretty dangerious implications, if you ask me. I used to work for an organization that provided services to the disabled and you'd hear this sort of thing constantly, that "God only gives disabled kids to parents who are strong and caring…

I hear you, man. My high school sweetheart was murdered and I got a lot of "it's all part of God's plan" back then—-aaaand cue "It's all part of God's plan" being a trigger phrase for anxiety attacks until I was like 21.

I went on to be a religious studies major, if you can believe it. There's a few strains of…

I know you're in pain, so please accept my flippant response as (hopefully) a little ray of light.

My daughter died a few years ago, and I heard a lot of the same thing. No one should ever utter the words "they're in a better place." to someone who lost someone they love. No, she's not, she's in an urn on our bookshelf. People say these things because it comforts them to offer words that make them feel better. I…

The "God doesn't give you more than you can handle" thing has always intrigued me. It's like "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." There's no way to disprove it. It's like, "Well, you're alive, right? See? He didn't give you more than you could handle."

here's the thing: I simply don't understand the need to publically THANK THE LORD I WAS SPARED!!!!! because, what does that say to the families that lost their children in the school? 'Sucks to be you, obviously God doesn't love you the way He loves us"?