No Religious Affiliation!

It fascinates me to note the number of people who profess not to have any faith or religion. Many times their designation in hospital is ‘no religious affiliation’. Yet these are the people who at times need prayer more than those who have religious affiliation. I have often had a discussion with people of this group as to how they want to be buried when they pass from this life to the next. Some of them have no clue; others do not care. Now the problem is that these people will have to be buried somehow. And someone will have to make a decision on their behalf, especially, if they do not have a Living Will or Advance Directive. Here then is where the problem comes in. Many times family members have to scout for where to ‘rent’ a church or a minister to bury their love one. In some of these gatherings, it is not uncommon to hear powerful eulogy testifying to the spirituality of the person so to be buried.

Life lesson: Once a man died and the family brought him to a Catholic Church for burial. As it is to be imagined, the pastor only knew the wife; the man never went to Church. During the homily, the pastor got up and spoke eloquently on the good qualities of the man, how he was a wonderful husband to his wife, and a great father to his children. How good a Christian he was. On hearing this the wife whispered to her son sitting by her side, ‘Junior go and take a good look at the coffin and make sure that the pastor is talking about your dad’.

I remember once having to bury a 74-year-old man who never entered a Church in his lifetime and the only justification for burring him, I was told, was that he had baptism of desire. Whoa! Isaiah the prophet admonishes us to “seek the Lord while he may be found, call on him while he is near” (55:6).  He also stresses, “the living, the living he thanks you as I do this day”, (Is. 38:19). It is when we are alive that we should seek the Lord not when we are dead. It is also wrong to let others worry about where we are to be buried and how that is to be done. An African proverb has it that one should look for a black goat while there is daylight for it will be impossible to find it at night.

So what should those who have no religious affiliation do before they die? After all they have no need of God. They should make sure that they have a living will. In this will they should state clearly what they want done to their body when they die. My humble advice is that they should opt for cremation. Or if they do not want cremation, then they should state the type of burial they prefer. This will take the burden of this decision off the shoulders of their family members. Since they preferred not to have a religious affiliation, I advise that they not be bothered with one. Family members should respect whatever decision was made before the demise of their love one. That is my humble opinion.