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]

[teeituptom, BSN, RN]

:rotfl: Ya can't take them with you, Tom!

Are you sure about that

[Jazzdog]

If my life has gone down the proverbial drain, then you can do whatever you like to the package that remains. My spirit has already "left the building". If you are praying for your sake/peace of mind then by all means pray away. As for me and MY spirit, I don't believe anything you say (or do as in a religious ceremony) to your God is going to alter my journey in another realm. After all, in this plane of reality, I have "already made my bed". Now it is time for me to sleep in it.

On another note, I have prayed with many a patients family in quite an assortment of beliefs. If by actively participating in a type of ritual or by just bowing my head, it has never been seen by other staff or superiors as out-of-line. To quote from the Hard Rock Cafe, "Love all, Serve all".

[CCU NRS]

Perhaps Tom's personal experience afterlife will be a very beautiful but difficult Golf course

[rngreenhorn]

Perhaps Tom's personal experience afterlife will be a very beautiful but difficult Golf course

And Tom, if you wake up one morning holding a crappy putter, shooting chipped and damaged fluorescent golf balls through a cheesy-looking clown's mouth, you might have died and gone the wrong way....

[ICUnowOHN]

i'm with m. mommy. if if it's done in good will and silent, why not ?

p.s. catholic, and i go to mass every week.

first, i must begin by saying that i'm an active roman catholic who prays often during the day. that said, i would not be offended if someone who had been caring for me - christian or non-christian - said a prayer for me. as far as i'm concerned, there is one god, higher power, whatever..... if someone felt the desire to say a prayer for me, i would find that comforting.

i believe that when i become a nurse, i will pray for each of my patients and their families. not aloud at work, but quietly at home. it was a few years after i began taking my daughter to her pediatrician that i realized the office has a prayer list - praying for their patients and their families. somehow, it made me feel good that they care enough to take the time to pray for us.

just my opinion......

[kcf_leo]

Oh Mate!! If you prayed over me I would rise up and haunt you!!:roll:

Actually I would be upset. I chose to live my life without the traditional christian belifs and to have that observed even if meant kindly would smack of hypocrisy and whatever else I am I have promised the maker of life that I will not be a hypocrit.

I personally wouldn't want a prayer said, but I would take into the consideration of your belief and hey, if it makes you feel better then go ahead. Besides, I'm dead, I'm already "at peace".

[ICUnowOHN]

In MIchigan you are not required to be embalmed as long as the burial is within 48 hours of death. Interestingly, if you die and your spouse predeceases you, all of the living children have to sign off on a release to allow cremation, even if you have it stipulated in your will, wishes etc...

(my grampa just died, and we had to track down my pin headed uncle and twist his arm to get him to go sign off. He was just trying to be a pain in the a#$. He finally showed up.

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.

[nursemike, ASN, RN]

A little off-topic perhaps, but on the news this evening, there was a story of a town in Fla. which allows menorras (sp?) for Hannuka but not manger scenes for Christmas as part of its civic holiday displays (publicly funded, on public property, if I understood correctly). A Christian is suing to permit Christian symbols.

I can imagine a lot of Christian conservatives seeing this as yet more evidence of an anti-Christian conspiracy, but to me, it only confirms my view. The government (any government) should not be allowed to endorse one religion over another, or any religion over none. The town is wrong, but adding Christian imagery will only compound the error.

On the other hand, a town in Cal. is supposedly banning the Constitution from public schools because it mentions God. I don't know--is everybody nuts? This is one of those contraversies that seems to persist only because people are willing to be completely unreasonable about it.

Getting back to the OP, I wonder how we would feel about a Wiccan prayer over our death. Frankly, I think I would object to that, although I would respect a Wiccan's right to practice his or her beliefs. Just not on me. Wouldn't be comfortable with a Santarian or a Satanist, either. (Not meaning at all to equate these belief systems, beyond the fact that they are all rather alien to my present beliefs as well as my heritage.)

I don't know. Most of the posts here have been pretty civilized, which is encouraging. But in the broader public debate, it just looks like the militants (on both sides) are running the show.

CCU NRS, I was sorry when I read earlier you were feeling bad about the course of this thread. I honestly don't see where anything you did hurt anybody. I might or might not do the same, depending on what my heart tells me at the moment, but I don't consider a private prayer (even to Gaia) an imposition. It's clearly meant as a kindness, and I would hope I would take it that way.

Please don't eat my cats, either. I seem to be out of bourbon, just now, so I'll raise a glass of brandy to you and call it a night.

[Roy Fokker, BSN, RN]

Sometimes I wonder. As an atheist, why should it bother me anyway? I'm dead means I'm dead. There ain't no soul, after life etc. So how does it make a difference?

[CCU NRS]

Amen don't eat my cats either. Ya know the whole thing was sort of silly and i just thought I would get a general Idea about what people thought. Boy did I ever! Like I told RedBait you can say whatever you want over at or near my deathbed, I have my faith and don't feel threatened by anything that could or would be said. That being said I am all for giving everyone the rights they deserve so I have quit the prayer. I mentioned this a while back, firast I attempted to revise it then decided that was too foolish then decided that my own higher power knows and understands that I wish the departed good fortune in thier journey and I have NO need to make a separate pryer for this, I also mentioned I wil just have the room blessd if I feel a lingering presence in a room after a death.

I also mentioned that while I am not Catholic I work in a Catholic facility and our Mission Statement is.

"Through our exceptional Health care services we, Reveal the Healing presence of God"

Now I don't know if the Pts are offended by this but I have never hear anyone say so.

Can you quote your facilities Mission statment?

[fuerza757]

I must admit I have prayed for the dying patient many times, I think it is best if you know their beliefs if you are going to pray aloud. To be safe I would say a silent prayer. "Church and State" Spear me the politics....The times may have changed but the call to nursing should always be the same, if compassion and prayer was good enough for nightingale it's good enough for me. Say your prayer girl......Speak the truth and shame the devil.

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!

[CCU NRS]

I must admit I have prayed for the dying patient many times, I think it is best if you know their beliefs if you are going to pray aloud. To be safe I would say a silent prayer. "Church and State" Spear me the politics....The times may have changed but the call to nursing should always be the same, if compassion and prayer was good enough for nightingale it's good enough for me. Say your prayer girl......Speak the truth and shame the devil.

Well thanks but 2 things I am a guy, male, man etc. no offense taken. and if you read the last post right above your post you will see the revision I have made.