Offended by Prayer

[CCU NRS]

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.

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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]

[CHATSDALE]

we had this nurse and she always said a prayer when someone died and she was waiting for the er md to come up and pronounce..she would say something like God accept the spirit of ________________one time she and the family were praying for this guy when he woke up and shouted "WHATS GOING ON HERE"

[RainDreamer, BSN, RN]

I wouldn't be offended. I see nothing wrong with saying a quiet prayer if you feel the need to do so. If the person is athiest or agnostic, or even if they believe in a different God than you do.... then they don't believe in your God, right? So what's the harm in praying to something they don't believe in?

I had a friend throughout elementary and middle school that was Islamic, when my grandma got sick she said a prayer for my family ... to Allah (her God, not mine), but I wasn't offended in the least.

[jwk]

I believe the boundary between church and secular hospital has be be as solid as it's is supposed to be between church and state.

That is a total load of crap! The Constitution speaks to freedom OF religion, not freedom FROM it.

It totally amazes me that someone would be offended at someone else making a silent, totally selfless display of compassion at this moment.

Take away the government-sponsored hospitals (federal, state, county, or city) and the for-profit hospitals, and what do you have left? Hospitals founded and/or run by various religions. There is no Atheist University Hospital - there is no Agnostic Medical Center.

[merricat]

found a website, http://www.funerals.org/ for the funeral consumers alliance. i guess it is not usually required for a person to be embalmed-- that is the thing that bothers me, taking the blood out and sticking formaldehyde in-- and i guess concrete vaults are not always required either. (i may have to get buried in the ground even if i don't want to, since my kids are freaked out by the idea of cremation). i also found some interesting stuff under a websearch "alternative burials." i have heard morticians can be pretty insistent on the embalming thing even if technically it is not required, and with other stuff too. so maybe if a person does not get it all settled in advance, it could be kinda tough. so thought i would pass this on.

[Jo Dirt]

I'm agnostic. Depending upon the spirit in which the prayer was said I may or may not be offended (organized religion really turns me off.)

Still, the prayer will most likely be to help you feel better. In that case I would say whatever came upon me to say over a dead body.

[CCU NRS]

Just another little note bodies can be cremated and ashes interred(sp)

[susanna]

we had this nurse and she always said a prayer when someone died and she was waiting for the er md to come up and pronounce..she would say something like God accept the spirit of ________________one time she and the family were praying for this guy when he woke up and shouted "WHATS GOING ON HERE"

That is so funny.

To, the OP, yeah, I'd be really offended. Its like the final word and me not getting to have a say in it. People don't even respect your religious preferences when you're alive. I'd at least want my religious preferences respected after I'm dead. But I guess I couldn't really stop you or run after you and tell you how offended I was after you did it because I would be dead so I guess you can do it if thats what you really want to do. Don't worry, I wouldn't be a revengeful ghost or anything, just a little offended ghost.

[Roy Fokker, BSN, RN]

Would I be offended? I guess not. To me, it's the equivalent of people telling me "May God Bless you". Since I am not offended by that, I doubt I will be offended by this.

I don't believe in a God/Higher power etc. I'm quite interested in Religion/Theology.

Hey, your prayers aren't hurting me. They are providing you with some form of relief. So I doubt that I would mind :-)

I do however agree about not projecting anybit of self-beliefs onto patient unless requested.

Very interesting question though.

[Nemhain]

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!

First of all, I am an Atheist, but I wouldn't be offended at all if you said that prayer over my dead body. I feel that your intentions would be good. However, you can ask God to take me into his hands and make a space for me up in the clouds all you want, but I won't be going (I'm an Atheist, remember? )

[RainDreamer, BSN, RN]

First of all, I am an Atheist, but I wouldn't be offended at all if you said that prayer over my dead body. I feel that your intentions would be good. However, you can ask God to take me into his hands and make a space for me up in the clouds all you want, but I won't be going (I'm an Atheist, remember? )

Exactly!! You're saying the prayer for what you believe, if the person doesn't believe in it, then what's the harm? It's for your own beliefs.

[Fraggle]

A lot of people do find it offensive to be prayed for. Even if it is silent and more for your benefit, it is using their death. If they were alive, they might object to their death being associated with a religion to which they don't subscribe. I know you are doing it in good faith, but it can also be very disrespectful. No one would know unless you told them, so it's really in your own heart.

If anything, I wouldn't pray that they have a place in heaven. I guess it's not necessarily the religion, but what exactly you are saying. A person's ideas about the afterlife are sacred and should be respected. By wishing something else upon them w/o their consent (and thus imposing your belief), you are being disrespectful.

I would say a prayer or think a nice thought of thanks for their time and life on this planet, the goodness you witnessed in them, or something you experienced with them. Prayers and meditation used for thanks and simple statement are often underrated.

[Fraggle]

If they were near death, would you tell them that you hoped God was making room for them in Heaven? It's the same thing. I just feel it's better to err on the safe side of "good will" vs. "infringing upon the very personal beliefs of others." Lots of people would think you were very kind for caring. I probably would too, even if I don't share the same beliefs. But it's a bad habit to go about caring without knowing the personal situation of who you are dealing with.