So I just conducted a funeral.\u00a0 God wasn\u2019t invited and nobody even noticed.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve only been performing non-theistic services and life cycle celebrations for a little over a year now.\u00a0 Funerals are the trickiest because while I only really do them for family or close friends, anyone can attend.\u00a0\u00a0In this case the deceased was also an atheist, but I can\u2019t say how many of the mourners were believers. \u00a0I assume there were at least some who have a vague theism. \u00a0Even though I said a non-theistic version of the Kaddish \u2013 praising peace rather than God \u2013 only one person commented on it afterward and not negatively.<\/p>\n
What does this say about God\u2019s importance at these events?\u00a0 If nobody\u2019s even asking about him at a funeral then how central can he be to these people\u2019s lives?\u00a0 Sometimes I think the Jewish community is so ready for something new and different that doesn\u2019t make them check their brains at the door.<\/p>\n
It went well.\u00a0 The family was very comforted by the presence of family and friends.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t really seem to need a guest appearance by Yahweh.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So I just conducted a funeral.\u00a0 God wasn\u2019t invited and nobody even noticed. I\u2019ve only been performing non-theistic services and life cycle celebrations for a little over a year now.\u00a0 Funerals are the trickiest because while I only really do them for family or close friends, anyone can attend.\u00a0\u00a0In this case the deceased was also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[30,39],"class_list":["post-587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogentries","tag-non-theism","tag-secular-humanistic-judaism"],"yoast_head":"\n