I am curious to know if you would be offended, if at church on Sunday your Pastor got up and said a prayer for Church Mice?
I mean he prayed that the mice be strengthened and given the ability to carry out their mousey duties and to eventually render the Church unusable, so that the Parisheners would finally have to pony up the dough to pay for a new Church.
ok I am kidding here is the original post but hey if you are just now reading this thread there have been many twists and turns and I no longer say a prayer over the deceased and yes largely due to many of the points made in this thread. Also NO i would not be offended if anyone of any belief Satanist, TO Catholic said prayers or whipered chants or whatever in my ear that said it was and is an interesting thread but please read about 5-10 of the current posts prior to posting
Now The
ORIGNAL POST
I am curious to know if you would be offended, after death if someone were to say a prayer over you.
I would really like to hear from as many Agnostic or Atheist as possible.
I recently began saying a prayer over anyone that dies in my presence. Many times I do not know if the person had a religious preference or not. I am curious to know if people would be offended if they knew someone was going to pray over them when they die.
here is the prayer
Dear Lord not our will but yours. Into thine hands we commend the spirit of this peaceful child of God. Prepare a place for him/her Now in Your Heavenly Kingdom![/Quote]
"Under God" was added in 1954 after a Presidential Order by Eisenhower, largely as a response to growing anti-Communist sentiments that would lead to the witch-hunts of Joe McCarthy and the HUAC. After he wrote it, Eisenhower said "From this day forward, the millions of our school children will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural schoolhouse, the dedication of our Nation and our people to the Almighty."
And, yes, I'm a Christian, and yes, I feel that this is a violation of the seperation between church and state.
"Under God" was added in 1954 after a Presidential Order by Eisenhower, largely as a response to growing anti-Communist sentiments that would lead to the witch-hunts of Joe McCarthy and the HUAC. After he wrote it, Eisenhower said "From this day forward, the millions of our school children will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural schoolhouse, the dedication of our Nation and our people to the Almighty."
And, yes, I'm a Christian, and yes, I feel that this is a violation of the seperation between church and state.
Thanks ChrisA! I was always curious about the exact reason and time it was added. I had read somewhere that it was the 40's but apparently that was wrong. Thanks again for the education.
I totally agree with cicicross's post. It's O.K. in our society to be open about being religious (especially if you are the RIGHT religion). I find that I have to be VERY careful who I discuss my religious views with. So I generally just keep mum about it. I would be very interested to know how I am trampling on the rights of religious people.
As your prayer sounded to me like an expression of deep caring and compassion (as opposed to a negative judgment, as in, 'oh please lord have mercy on this horrible, unbelieving sinner, and send them not into the eternal hellfire and damnation that they well deserve, but into heaven'), were I not dead, I would feel honored and touched to have these sentiments directed toward me. And I am probably as non-religious and 'unbelieving' as one can get, having no belief in any form of afterlife, 'divine' or 'cosmic' purpose, or 'universal consciousness'. What I tend to hold 'sacred', if you will, is the worth of my fellow human beings, a worth that I feel is predicated not upon the mandate of any timeless, eternal, transcendent, divine or all-powerful being, but rather is determined by our very practical need, which has been determined by a series of evolutionary contingencies, to be affirmed and accepted as valuable by other human beings.
So, in short, no, as a consummate atheist, I do not feel at all offended by the thought of a health care provider saying such words, imbued as they seem to be by compassion, over me in private. Instead, as one who is still living, it gives me a sense of peace to be reminded that people with such compassion as you seem to have, do exist.
Just before the gate opens and the hands come down or up from the ground.I believe that many pt's know they are dying and when it comes right done to it,if you REALLY listen to your pt's, many will utter the word GOD.So,you go for it and pray all you want.Because if the pt does not hear your words the Mighter One will!!!!
If I am ever in need at the end of my time I hope and Pray that my nurse will pray with me.
Dear Lord not our will but yours. Into thine hands we commend the spirit of this peaceful child of God. Prepare a place for him/her Now in Your Heavenly Kingdom!
...sounds lyk a heartfelt prayer..
Id frequently whisper a prayerlike line (not a chanting!) when m standing next to a lifeless body (about to do the last office?)...w/o anybody else..
well, that is the light u have recvd and its coming from u. whatever ur belief is, ur prayer will not be void... ur intentions wer from d heart, and that matters most..whether or not the dead is a believer (of anything), sumthing will always come back to u, cuz u wished him well...
Sorry, to be out of topic for this one.. I dont believe that all deaths are God's will.... that's jus my own realization.. :)
I am changing my prayer. I will continue to say a silent prayer over anyone that dies in my presence. As many noted since it is silent there is nothing anyone else can truly do about it or even know it is being said.
There were many good points made involving the prayer and I am going to ammend my prayer to take these into account. I am going to pray not so much for deliverance to Heaven but to care for the deceased and the departing soul in a manner that would follow their belief system, I am going to include assisting families in thier time of need and grief and I am going to ask all of this in the name of any diety that the departed would recognize and appeal to.
I haven't written it yet but now i have something to do.
I am changing my prayer. I will continue to say a silent prayer over anyone that dies in my presence. As many noted since it is silent there is nothing anyone else can truly do about it or even know it is being said.
That's the most wonderfully caring and humble thing I've heard lately, CCU NRS. Thanks for making my day, and bless you.
I am just a student and haver never been around when someone has passed away, so I guess I have no real experience with this. Anyway... I would not be offended, even though I dont really have any religious believes. When I read these posts, I think like this: If I were to say a prayer over someone who passed away... I would try to make it like something I believe would work with that person's own religion, not mine (if I had one).
How could a prayer of any kind possibly be construed as offensive when you take into account the idea that all the belief systems in the world are for the comfort and mitigation of fear for the LIVING, not the dead. You're alive, you're scared, you're sad: of course it's ok to say a prayer.
ChrisA
143 Posts
"Under God" was added in 1954 after a Presidential Order by Eisenhower, largely as a response to growing anti-Communist sentiments that would lead to the witch-hunts of Joe McCarthy and the HUAC. After he wrote it, Eisenhower said "From this day forward, the millions of our school children will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural schoolhouse, the dedication of our Nation and our people to the Almighty."
And, yes, I'm a Christian, and yes, I feel that this is a violation of the seperation between church and state.