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]
Hey Thanks for all the replies! I do say this prayer silently and do not ask anyone else to join in or anything like that. I simply feel as someone mentione that no matter what you call it there is a higher power, I use Universal consciousness personally, in prayer God and Heaven are at least concepts that everyone are aware of and if there is a soul present when I say this prayer I would expcet that they understand the spirit in which this prayer is offered by using these commmonly known expressions. I am not overly religious but have experienced a feeling of lingering souls in room of the deceased and began to feel that perhaps a small prayer would ease them from this plane of existance to the next. I do beleive in souls afterlife and reincarnation, but that is a whole other topic.
HI- I'm not a part of any organized religion, but I also say a prayer for any of my patients who expire under my care. I do it in my head, and would never dream of trying to inflict my beliefs on a family at that time.Nursing attracts careing,nurturing people- It wouldn't surprise me if a lot of nurses have some way of saying goodbye to their patients.It's the same thing as refusing to let one of my patients die alone. I've done all of my shift paperwork at a patients bedsidemore than once. If death is imminent, I do everything I can NOT to let that person die alone.It just doesn't feel right to me. As far as people being upset about a prayer being said over them, perhaps if you added "conditionally" :chuckle like they do baptisms.....
Some might flame me for this, but I have shared my faith with dying residents on occasion. I was a little nervous once because family was present, but the daughter exclaimed, "Thank you!"
Another time, I told a dying resident, "Think about Jesus." (I knew she was Baptist.) She thought for a second and said, "That's a good idea!"
Someone a couple posts back asked if the OP would be offended if another religious prayer was said over her. I believe the OP answered she wouldn't be and even talked about Native American prayers, rituals.
I once did a clinical rotation on an Indian Reservation and when I fell sick, the Indians "prayed" for me and performed a ritual for my benefit. While obviously I am Catholic and don't necessarily believe in what they were doing, I was deeply touched and honored.
If I died in a foreign country and that culture conducted some final rights of passage, again, I think my family would be honored and touched over it. But then again, we don't get offended nearly as easily as alot of people nowadays.
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?
Uh, "Something, something, quality health care, something something, yada, yada, yada..." It's secular, which is okay by me, and pure Adminspeak, which is unfortunate but sort of inevitable.
I have been privileged to know a number of people who reveal something about the presence of God in every day of their lives. I don't always know exactly what it is they're revealing, but I have a sense that it's good and kind, and in some sense, right. I truly fit the term "agnostic" in that I believe that some things will always be a mystery, but these are people I definitely don't want to oppose. Some are religious in the traditional sense and some aren't, but they add something to my life, and to the world. They are what I aspire to be, as a person and as a nurse.
The mission statement: To continue the healing ministry of Jesus in the world today, with special concerns for those who are poor and vulnerable. Working with others in the spirit of loving service, we stive to meet the health needs of people as they journey through life.
Core values: compassion, justice, respect, excellence, and stewardship.
I have to admit, I had to look on the back of my name badge to recite it word for word.
But I digress. This morning (at work) when the chaplin was saying the morning prayer over the intercom. This happens every morning around 0800. I wondered how many people who responded to this thread would be so against outloud prayer, that they would not work at this hospital. (Damn that sentence is a grammatical nightmare... sorry). I've never had a patient be offended with the morning prayer.
the mission statement: to continue the healing ministry of jesus in the world today, with special concerns for those who are poor and vulnerable. working with others in the spirit of loving service, we stive to meet the health needs of people as they journey through life.
core values: compassion, justice, respect, excellence, and stewardship.
i have to admit, i had to look on the back of my name badge to recite it word for word.
but i digress. this morning (at work) when the chaplin was saying the morning prayer over the intercom. this happens every morning around 0800. i wondered how many people who responded to this thread would be so against outloud prayer, that they would not work at this hospital. (damn that sentence is a grammatical nightmare... sorry). i've never had a patient be offended with the morning prayer.
i'm not catholic by the way...
the funny thing is that most hospitals have some type of secular core values. i know they made our mission statement a nice simple sentence and short so that we could easily rememebr it. you know all the easier to recite for jcaho.
on a side note i always stop where ever i am and bow my head and listen to the prayer ours is at 0730 in am and 0900 in pm.
we also have a motto living our vision everyday notice the initials spell love now i don't know who comes up with these things but that one is a littel hokey.
Once at clinicals, I was touched when a patient prayed for me. At my work, we have a resident, that if you're in a hurry, you hope she doesn't grab your arm and start praying for you. LOL.
But it's a whole other matter when the client does it.
Specializes in Oncology, ID, Hepatology, Occy Health.
I'm an atheist and frankly, yes, I would be offended to think that anybody had prayed over my body. Organised religion turns me off to the extent that I can't even face the thought of it even when I'm no longer around to witness it. Having had religion forced upon me as a child, I'd like to think that I can take my adult choices to the grave with me.
I think the fact that you stop to pose the question demonstrates that you are a caring person, sensitive to the choices of others. I once knew a nurse who had a very arrogant "I'm praying for them for their own good, they'll thank me on the other side" attitude, which was frankly, disgusting. I have also heard a tale of a doctor sitting down to pray with a living patient who couldn't speak and wasn't in a position to object. The patient, as it happened, had no faith. Apparently this doctor was reported but I have no idea of the outcome.
I would ask yourself if you are praying for your own comfort more than for the patient. If the answer is yes then I would suggest you shouldn't do it. You may genuinely feel that the patient before you will benefit from your prayers, but in my view you don't have the right to project that belief onto the non-believing patient; just as I have no right to deny a believing patient access to the appropriate chaplain, time and space to pray etc.
When my patients ask me about the future and the future of the health and ask about my spiritual views and what I beleive, I tell them that I think that everyone should have faith and that everyone goes somewhere safe, in the end.
I would be very angry because you are not there for prayers. A nurse is there to provide medical assistance and care not religious services. If you feel the need to pray then maybe you picked the wrong career because the church is always hiring. Serious, if someone was praying to satan would you be upset. I don't believe in gods or devils so, if i happen to die please rush my body to a cryno center and preserve me until science can bring me back. Less prayer and more science would be ideal. P.s If you are a churchie or devil worshipper and it(religion) works for you then continue as long as you are happy.
P.S. This is the husband for a nurse so, don't hammer her too much on the boards. Peace!
I would be very angry because you are not there for prayers. A nurse is there to provide medical assistance and care not religious services. If you feel the need to pray then maybe you picked the wrong career because the church is always hiring. Serious, if someone was praying to satan would you be upset. I don't believe in gods or devils so, if i happen to die please rush my body to a cryno center and preserve me until science can bring me back. Less prayer and more science would be ideal. P.s If you are a churchie or devil worshipper and it(religion) works for you then continue as long as you are happy.
P.S. This is the husband for a nurse so, don't hammer her too much on the boards. Peace!
If you had read al the posts I have already said I would not be upset if someone prayed to Satn or told me in time of dying that there was nothing, becaues I have my faith and it can not be shaken. I also have revised my plen that I do not pray over the deceaseed anymore. So cool that you are posting your feeling but take time to read the entire thread and you wil see there have been much more amazing things that what you have typed.
Jennifernsammy
7 Posts
HI- I'm not a part of any organized religion, but I also say a prayer for any of my patients who expire under my care. I do it in my head, and would never dream of trying to inflict my beliefs on a family at that time.Nursing attracts careing,nurturing people- It wouldn't surprise me if a lot of nurses have some way of saying goodbye to their patients.It's the same thing as refusing to let one of my patients die alone. I've done all of my shift paperwork at a patients bedsidemore than once. If death is imminent, I do everything I can NOT to let that person die alone.It just doesn't feel right to me. As far as people being upset about a prayer being said over them, perhaps if you added "conditionally" :chuckle like they do baptisms.....