Reading Time: 2 minutes Laura Beck gave birth to her first child Truman back in August… but he died just three days later. As hard as it was to cope with the loss, it didn’t help that so many of the people around her were using the phrase “angel baby,” or telling her he was in a “better place,” […]
Death & Dying
Grappling with the difficult questions of death and dying from a secular, nonreligious point of view.
Posted inComedy, Death & Dying, General
Bow Your Head At the Funerals for Dead Gods
Reading Time: < 1 minute If all the gods people have ever believed in no longer exist, the least we could do is hold a funeral for all of them. Thankfully, Mike Lee, Mikey Pullman, and Ashley Paramore put one of those together: Who knew you could have a funeral with a happy ending? (via Religious Antagonist)
Posted inDeath & Dying, Myth & Folklore, Parenting & Family
Time to get your ween on
Reading Time: 2 minutes “JesusWeen is a God-given vision which was born as an answer to the cry of many every October 31st. The dictionary meaning of Ween is to expect, believe or think. We therefore see October 31st as a day to expect a gift of salvation and re-think receiving Jesus. “Every year, the world and its system […]
Posted inDeath & Dying, Parenting & Family
Consolation (without religion) for a grieving child
Reading Time: 4 minutes Guest post by Wendy Thomas Russell. Author of the forthcoming book Relax, It’s Just God, Wendy is a strong, funny, articulate new voice in secular parenting. Reposted from WendyThomasRussell.com. Consolation (without religion) for a grieving child by Wendy Thomas Russell Last week, an 8-year-old boy in Seal Beach, Calif., was orphaned in one of the […]
Posted inDeath & Dying, General, LGBTQ News
Ask Richard: Anticipating a Religious Funeral for a Gay Secular Humanist
Reading Time: 3 minutes Last week, an old college friend of mine died. He was only 32 years old. When I met him, he was a Christian and over the course of our friendship, he became a Secular Humanist. He also came out of the closet as a gay man. His family is still really religious and I have […]
Posted inDeath & Dying, General
Grief Beyond Belief
Reading Time: 2 minutes For atheists who need some support after experienced the death of a loved one, there’s a new Facebook group that could offer some help: Grief Beyond Belief. Grief Beyond Belief provides a safe space for atheists and other non-religious people to share and process the death of a loved one. Because bereavement is sometimes the […]
Posted inDeath & Dying, General
‘A Modern Inquisition’ by Dr. Jack Kevorkian
Reading Time: 9 minutes In 1994, Dr. Jack Kevorkian received the American Humanist Association’s “Humanist Hero Award.” At the AHA’s annual conference in Detroit that year, he gave the acceptance speech below (PDF). I’m reprinting an adapted version of it here, on the day of his own death at the age of 83. This is probably the first time […]
Posted inDeath & Dying, General
Goodbye to Jack Kevorkian
Reading Time: 2 minutes Dr. Jack Kevorkian died earlier today at the age of 83. He was known as “Dr. Death” to most of the public but “Dr. Dignity” to a lot of Humanists because of how he helped people end their lives on their own terms. “Somebody has to do something for suffering humanity,” Kevorkian once said. “I […]
Posted inDeath & Dying, General
Are There Resources for Atheist Widows?
Reading Time: < 1 minute I received an email from a recent widow — my heart goes out to her — and I’m hoping some of you might have a better response than anything I could come up with: I’m 44 years old and was widowed this month. My husband of two and a half years died of an infection. […]
Posted inDeath & Dying, General
Putting Together a Godless Funeral
Reading Time: 2 minutes Jon Canter‘s sister Rosemary died of cancer in March. In the last couple months of her life, she told Jon what she wanted her funeral to be like — neither she not Jon believe in a god, so it wasn’t the kind of funeral you’re used to seeing. But I think their decisions would make […]