Cemeteries Used to Creep Me Out

20 Responses to “Cemeteries Used to Creep Me Out”

1. wat on August 26th, 2009 at 2:14 am

   cool story, bro!

2. Mullmeister on August 26th, 2009 at 8:57 am

   Very interesting. Never really thought of it that way? What do you intend to put on your gravestone just out of interest? Personally i just want to be buried somewhere where it will annoy authorities. Eg in a national Park. Suposedly its illegal

3. 40 Year Old Atheist on August 26th, 2009 at 9:28 am

   Hey Mullmeister,

   Good question. On numerous occasions, I’ve told my wife I don’t care if she throws my body on a pile of burning tires. After all, I’ll be dead and won’t be able to care.

   On the other hand, this visit to the cemetery clearly showed me how important they are to those who remain living.

   I will probably leave it to my wife and/or kids. I think if there is some kind of memorial, I will tell them something funny to put on there and also request that nothing religious finds its way on it.

4. Mullmeister on August 26th, 2009 at 12:38 pm

   That makes a lot of sense. Be nice to have something interesting on a grave stone rather than the RIP etc… I want to be useful when im dead. Maybe use my body to inspire the cabbages to grow(fertilizer reference) Death is very interesting for me because i do not believe in the afterlife. Anyway, that is a very long story

5. Jon on August 26th, 2009 at 12:42 pm

   Mark – Nice post.  Interesting to know your feelings on cemetaries pre and post conversion.  I share your opinion that my remains/memorial are for wife/kids.  I won’t need my body anymore as I will be in heaven…so I can be cremated and scatter, buried, used for medical exhibits, or star in body worlds.  But I will leave that decision to those left living.

6. 40 Year Old Atheist on August 26th, 2009 at 1:32 pm

   @Mullmeister: You reminded me that, as far as my remains are concerned, I want my body donated to science. As I said though, I’d leave it up to my family whether they want to make some sort of memorial.

   @Jon: Thanks.

7. Tinna G. Gígja on August 27th, 2009 at 11:35 pm

   I’d like to donate my body to science, but I’m pretty sure that the laws here (Iceland) forbid it. So, when I kick the bucket, I hope at least some of my organs won’t be too damaged to be useful to others, and the rest…well, I don’t care. Ideally I’d like to be served up with some baked potatoes, a nice salad and fed to the poor, but apparently that’s against the law too.
   If my family insists on sticking a headstone (please don’t put a cross…unless it’s one of those cool pirate-treasure-X-marks-the-spot things) on my grave, I hope it’ll say something funny.
   Surely the best way to achieve immortality is to have a catchy epitaph?

8. Believer on September 20th, 2009 at 11:34 am

   Question:  How many pall bearers are needed at an atheist’s funeral?
   Answer:  Just two – one for each handle of the trash barrel.

9. Renshia on September 21st, 2009 at 10:49 am

   Hey believer,
   What a nice sentiment. I suppose that was delivered with the love of jesus, I am sure.
    

10. Believer on September 22nd, 2009 at 11:50 am

    Renshia,
    My little joke actually has an element of truth to it.
    Back in 1983, an atheist named Arnold Via, founder of the “Prison Atheist League of America,” quite unceremoniously dumped the corpse of a convicted murderer, Virginia prison inmate, and fellow atheist named Fred Conway into a mere hole in the ground. Via then only partially filled the rest of hole in with some dirt from the same hole and then went on his way.
    This landfill-deposit-like “funeral” took place at Via’s own “American Atheists Infinite Cemetery” in Augusta County, Virginia, which is reportedly America’s first atheist cemetery, but also merely nothing more than a tract of undeveloped land.
    Needless to say, Arnold Via’s actions upset many of Fred Conway’s surviving fellow prison inmates. Via simply told the inmates that his burial method was acceptable by atheist standards. Despite his claim, Via’s visiting privileges were subsequently withdrawn by prison officials due to a deluge of threats to his own safety from the inmate population.
    So, apparently, it is the atheists themselves who treat the remains of each other like the trash that they collectively all seem to be, not us believers. We at least would say a prayer for the soul of a departed atheist, if not perform a dignified burial of some sort.

11. MJ on September 22nd, 2009 at 2:42 pm

    Believer,
    First of all, when you make allegations like you are making, please include sources of the information – otherwise I’m just as apt to assume it’s factual as I am to assume it’s been “Fox”ified.

    Second, I know there are Christian sects who refuse to bury suicides in the same cemetary as the others Christians. The suicides aren’t read their last rites and so not afforded the dignity you speak of Christians giving. And not only that, but the suicides’s relatives are told their relative will burn in hell for eternity – that’s noce and compassionate and Christian.

    And if I were to use that example to say all Christians are bad and disrespectful, how truthful a comment would that be – the answer is not very truthful – the same as using your example to suggest that all athiests would do exactly the same as “Arnold Via”. So why not stop using a single extreme example to characterize a whole diverse group. It’s not fair nor just and more importantly, it’s just plain wrong. Take care.

    MJ

12. Joy on September 23rd, 2009 at 6:37 pm

    I’m going to  be cremated, if my body can be located once I die.  If I HAD to have a tombstone, perhaps a simple “Joy is dead.”  But this is cooler… donate one’s body to rot under different circumstances for scientific study:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSDCiOW81mk

13. Joy on September 23rd, 2009 at 6:39 pm

    OH! Warning that that video does have graphic images, but it’s a worthwhile project.

14. Believer on September 23rd, 2009 at 8:14 pm

    MJ,
    Here’s my source: The Free-Lance Star of Fredericksburg, Virginia, dateline 15 September 1983, headline “Prison atheist founder threatened” – Happy now? This whole newspaper has been archived online with Google, by the way. I believe this very same newspaper has an article about this ahteist “funeral” that was printed about two days previously, but I cannot say for certain as of now.
    Fox News also does not make up or fake up the news like the way that Dan Rather did on CBS with the “Killian Documents” on George W. Bush’s service record in the Texas Air National Guard, or like the way that Peter Arnett did with his “Operation Tailwind” story on CNN, or the way that some producers of the “Dateline” program on NBC rigged a GMC light pickup with explosives so as to make the audience believe that the pickup would normally explode in a minor collision.
    The examples I just cited of “mainstream” media malfeasance are just three of numerous others. If Fox News had been involved in any sort of scandals like these, I’ll bet that there would be at least a few Hollywood documentaries or hit pieces all about it by now, but I digress.
    Now, as for “Christian sects who refuse to bury suicides in the same cemetary as the others Christians,”  where could I find a source to such information? I have never heard of such a thing myself, although I will admit to not being an expert on all the various sects of Christianity.
    I can at least point out that the “Last Rites” ritual is exclusive to just Catholicism, however, and that this ritual is given to Catholics who are on the verge of death and not yet dead. Therefore, it would be impossible to deny this ritual to a Catholic who had already committed suicide, right?
    As for my comment on how atheists seemingly show callous disregard the corpses of their recently deceased fellow atheists, I will admit that I was being rather flippant. I was merely cited the story about the Arnold Via atheist prison group leader to make my point about the joke I made previously.
    However, it’s not like there’s any official or even widely-accepted atheist canon on how to inter the departed, right? Could a landfill actually become a de facto cemetery for atheists? How about a feeding trough for swine? (Those farm animals will supposedly eat anything.) Atheists could be rather creative – the possibilities are endless.

15. Renshia on September 23rd, 2009 at 10:14 pm

    Ah..
    the only good use of a garbage dump being a cemetery, I can see would be to bury dead things like bibles.
    Personally, I don’t care what happens to my corpse, I doubt it will be wanted for it’s parts as I have used them well and don’t think they will be much use to anyone else.
    I guess i just think your joke was ignorant, and shows your lack of respect for others.
    Coming from someone who labels themselves a believer.. And knowing that jesus said love your neigbour, I would think that comments like that should be beneath you. But obviously not…
    Fucking hypocrites, you make me sick. One more reason I gave up the stupidity of religion.

16. Believer on September 24th, 2009 at 8:03 am

    Renshia – Well, after long seeing believers like me getting bashed horribly and savagely ridiculed all over the media and pop culture of today, where making religious jokes seems quite acceptable as long as only Christianity and not any other faith is the butt of the joke or satire, I decided to just give a small bit of it back. One can only turn the other cheek just so much – I’m only human, right?
    It was just a joke anyway, and not some type of vitriolic attack like I have seen launched against Christians coming from some atheists whom I have been exposed to in the media and have known in real life.  (One such as this came from an “secular humanist” anthropology professor in the margins of an essay I wrote in college.) Furthermore, you just stated yourself that you have no cares over what happens to your remains after your passing, so why the indignation at my little joke then?
    Besides, loving one’s atheistic neighbor as Jesus taught us is still quite possible while giving him or her a minor bit of teasing – at least I think so. I’ll just say right now that I’m sorry now for offending anybody, and I know that he’ll forgive me.
    God bless.

17. Renshia on September 24th, 2009 at 3:41 pm

    I think there is a big difference between mocking religious beliefs, and talking about putting atheists out with the trash.
    But I guess it is okay to do that. And yes that is a good excuse, you are only human. But where does your religion come into play?
    You should expect stuff like that from an immoral dis-believer. Especially when coming onto a site of theirs.
    I would expect that with all your religion you should hold yourself to the standard of jesus..no????
    and if you prayed for strength, should you not get it… Sorry that was a joke,…

18. Renshia on September 24th, 2009 at 3:45 pm

    I’ll just say right now that I’m sorry now for offending anybody, and I know that he’ll forgive me.

    The great escape, It must be nice to always have a way out of being responsible for your actions.
    When I was a child I prayed for a bike. But I quickly found out he didn’t work that way…so I stole a bike and prayed for his forgiveness

19. MJ on September 25th, 2009 at 2:50 pm

    Believer – there have been numerous cases of FOX falsifying facts or perpetuating myths like weaponms of mass destruction were found in Iraq when none have been. FOx has also created bully pulpits for the likes of Glen Beck, Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh who never let the facts get in the way of a good lie. And FOX has been caught many, many times telling lies. On FOX and Friends – Glen Beck said Obama was a racist then when confronted about it 30 seconds later says no I didn’t say that – I have a PVR sopressed rewind and sure enough my memory served me right. And the reason FOX has gotten away with it is because the conservatives have bullied the liberals into silence and all but discredited any source other than FOX – which despite its name is anything but fair and balanced.

    The other thing is that Christians have been the same people shooting physicians because they disagree with what they’re doing. Real nice! I’ll even use your own FOX news so you’ll believe it.

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,523581,00.html

    And as for the barring of suicides, it wasn’t just limited to catholics, it inlcuded Protestant sects as well – have a read.

    http://books.google.ca/books?id=qf9nq9lFwyQC&pg=PA70&lpg=PA70&dq=burying+suicides+outside+of+cemeteries&source=bl&ots=_jMZI3dM0a&sig=SETcZaSzR8TOkOiQCTR-R8WrarU&hl=en&ei=OB29SoWZIaXWtAO614lB&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6#v=onepage&q=burying%20suicides%20outside%20of%20cemeteries&f=false

    So having fun and poking fun is great as long as it’s you doing the poking, but not so much for the others – also is shooting people who disagree with you OK – how about the church shootings that have happened recently? I’m pretty sure you’ll find a lot of people athiests and people of all religious stripes feeling shock and sympathy for those people – What I’m getting at is that if you look beyond the differences, you’ll find that a lot of religions, and philosophies have at their heart a similar message and that it’s probably a better idea to look at the actual message rather than attack a tangential thing – take a look at the values of humanism – I think that yopu probably share a lot of thes values.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanism

    Take care.

    MJ

20. MJ on September 28th, 2009 at 5:19 pm

    Believer check out this article from Fairness and accuracy in Reporting – it talks about media bias and you might find it inteeresting to read – I know this isn’;t a political forum so my apologies to the moderator but I think it’s iomportant to address assertions made by the different writers.

    http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3892