The Atheist Thread: Re-envisioning Social Mores

[Qrazy]

So I'm watching Juzo Itami's The Funeral and the way people behave towards the corpse of the deceased got me to thinking that perhaps those of us who are atheists could formulate some new social behaviors and rituals to mesh with our worldview. I'm not saying the old way should be looked down upon or that different cultural and religious practices should not be respected but I thought that perhaps our different beliefs could shift certain ways of doing things.

For starters if we no longer base our rituals upon our heritage than where should we derive them from? Pragmatism perhaps? Cost/benefit analysis... and generally utilitarian? The individual's personal preference prior to death? The family's preference since they are paying for the funeral and the ritual is really for the living? Would cremation be the most pragmatic postmortem procedure? Or something else? Even if we deny the transcendental soul we need not deny individuality. Perhaps the easiest way to honor that individuality is in fact with an intact body.

This is just one possible issue. What about marriage? Eating rituals? Birthing rituals? Circumcision? Bring up some more as you think of them.

[BuffaloWilder]

I see no problem with our current funereal arrangements.

[Qrazy]

I see no problem with our current funereal arrangements.

Ah.

[Sycophant]

I've been wondering about this sort of thing for some time myself, especially related to marriage/weddings. But I haven't really come up with anything too insightful/original yet.

[Qrazy]

I've been wondering about this sort of thing for some time myself, especially related to marriage/weddings. But I haven't really come up with anything too insightful/original yet.

Might I suggest you enlist Donald Sutherland to preside over your wedding?

[Derek]

I used to find the idea of cremation disturbing, but I've since warmed up to its utilitarian advantages and now find the idea of tossing my corspe in a box six feet under to be unsettling. I personally think the individual's personal preference prior to death should be upheld despite what the family may want.

[D_Davis]

I'm religious and I'm going to be cremated. Unless a cheaper option becomes available. I do not understand burial ceremonies, and I find it disturbing that it has become a money-making industry. The last thing I want in this life is for my surviving family members to be burdened with the cost of a silly funeral. Ash me up and throw me away, thank you very much, or just put my ashes in the fire place. I'll be long gone.

[Mara]

I'm not an athiest, but I found Mary Roach's Stiff to be a fascinating, utilitarian look at dead bodies. Almost everything we do with bodies is bad for the environment, especially burial and cremation. She goes a lot into using bodies for scientific and safety research.

The two methods she explored that I thought sounded the best are actually both illegal in the United States: composting and dissolving in acid/lye. I kind of like the second one because it does what the body does naturally, breaking it down and decaying it, but much faster. The composting is interesting, but gruesome (yes, you need to "turn" it) but I liked her idea of composting a body and then planting a tree in the soil in memory of the deceased.

[

Show Spoiler

"Miss Wormwood, could we arrange our seats in a little circle and have a little discussion? Specifically, I'd like to debate whether cannibalism ought to be grounds for leniency in murders since it is less wasteful." --Calvin

]

[Spinal]

My personal feeling is that if you're dead, it's kind of selfish to take up space. Presumably, in most cases, it is not the body we will fondly remember, but the irretrievable personality. This does not have to be a cold, pragmatic idea. It is actually quite poetic, as many before me have noted. Let's get those atoms circulating back in the universe and not just have them sitting in a box clinging to retain the form of something that is no more.

[Raiders]

I will be cremated. And let me tell you, nothing is more aggravating to me than funeral processions. They are just about my least favorite thing on the planet. Effing up traffic and causing delays because somebody died. I don't find it respectful to the dead but rather disrespectful to the living. Why is it necessary for you to travel in a single file line at 20+ below the speed limit? Just go to the freakin' cemetary dammit!

[Spinal]

At some point somebody must have calculated the acceptably reverent speed for vehicles to travel. 15 miles per hour? Reasonable and respectful. 30 miles per hour? You heartless bastard.

[Qrazy]

How do people feel about grave robbing

[Spinal]

How do people feel about grave robbing

Only acceptable for Indiana Jones, Lara Croft and Dora the Explorer.

[Sycophant]

I have two atheist friends who are getting married, but they're being married by an Episcopal minister or something.

I think I'll probably be cremated, though I wouldn't mind having a small, unassuming stone or slab or plaque somewhere.

[Wryan]

Only acceptable for Indiana Jones, Lara Croft and Dora the Explorer.

New Dora or Old Dora?

[Qrazy]

I think we should build a man made island out of corpses for when the sea levels rise.

[Spinal]

New Dora or Old Dora?

Old Dora. If Tween Dora is caught in a cemetery, I can only assume she's gone there to make out with boys.

[Wryan]

Old Dora. If Tween Dora is caught in a cemetery, I can only assume she's gone there to make out with boys.

What a harlot.

[Wryan]

Oh and cremated, certainly, but I wistfully regret the chance to impart some terrifying wit-truth on people via the odd carved headstone haiku or bit of verse.

Maybe I'll ask for my ashes to be smoothied into tatoo ink and....oh the places this might lead.

[Hugh_Grant]

I'm not an athiest, but I found Mary Roach's Stiff to be a fascinating, utilitarian look at dead bodies. Almost everything we do with bodies is bad for the environment, especially burial and cremation. She goes a lot into using bodies for scientific and safety research.

British author Jessica Mitford's The American Way of Death is a fascinating critique about the evils of the American funeral indu$try. "Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain" is often anthologized in composition readers.

[Watashi]

Wait, wait, wait, WAIT! Hold on!

There's a tween Dora?!

What the hell? That's sacrilegious.

[Spun Lepton]

So I'm watching Juzo Itami's The Funeral and the way people behave towards the corpse of the deceased got me to thinking that perhaps those of us who are atheists could formulate some new social behaviors and rituals to mesh with our worldview. I'm not saying the old way should be looked down upon or that different cultural and religious practices should not be respected but I thought that perhaps our different beliefs could shift certain ways of doing things.

You're proposing we "formulate new social behaviors and rituals," but atheism doesn't assign social behaviors or rituals for us to change. It is the absence of belief in deities, nothing more.

[Ezee E]

I don't really care what happens to my body when I die. Someone can figure that out for me I guess, and think, "That's what he would've wanted."

[Qrazy]

You're proposing we "formulate new social behaviors and rituals," but atheism doesn't assign social behaviors or rituals for us to change. It is the absence of belief in deities, nothing more.

OK THEN! Have fun saying prayers at supper, because that's what my family does and if I'm not elaborating new social behaviors than that's what I would be doing as well.

I'm not saying atheism dictates new social behaviors I'm saying what would be some rituals and behaviors which could mesh with the perspective. Praying could also mesh with the view in theory but the prayer would no long be focused on a diety... it could be about mindfulness or what have you.

[ledfloyd]

i think i would rather be cremated than buried. being donated to science creeps me out a bit. i am an organ donor though.