Please, to quote that without Jesus or God "there is NO hope!" Is, again; unfair, unkind, thoughtless and a miserable thing to preach to people "in general!"

We ALL deserve to treated well and with kindness in our grief process. Whether we have lost someone a day ago or a century ago, the pain is real and unrelenting.

Let's be "THERE" for each other in words and deeds, no matter what our belief system.

Roz

Hmmm . . . God or Not God is not the question here in my opinion.

It''s "belief" in whatever we respectively believe in that gives us the proverbial "hope". If it's Jesus, then amen to you sister and brothers, if it's Buddha, he offers us much advice on acceptance of suffering in this lifetime. If it's Mohammed . . well, I can't exactly say, but he did have some great teachings outside of suicide and war pacts.

Religion in general should not be the point of topic of discussion. We each have our own path and spirituality, not to be debated here. We are drawn together on the grief path to support one another, no matter our spiritual beliefs.

I'm starting to resent those that are "judging" based on their sole belief that their way is the only right way. This is what causes war in our world . . and we can excuse it and cover it up with our religious blankets of pseudo-truths.

I think more to the point of the original post was Pammy's angst in the inability to accept another half ass response that was thoughtful, nor personal to her soul and situation. I get it.

I just wish others could get it also. Keep it "clean" folks . . . this is a site without judgment. Don't try to pass on yours . . . as we will not pass on ours. Just sayin'.

Pammy, where ever this finds you . . peace be with you. xo, Dayna

"un thoughtful" . . was the meant comment . . . silly spell check negated what I meant to say. I'm sure you all got it anyway. Just wanted to check that.

Thank you to each and every one of you who responded with your thoughts. The point of my post was not to tell people what they should believe or not believe, it was simply to say "we don't all feel the same way" Somebody commented about me being "angry" or responding with anger, that could not be farther from the truth, the emotion that it brings to me is sadness. I have never told anyone when they hurt me, I have always smiled and said thank you, because I am aware they are not trying to do it on purpose. So we come back to the purpose of my original post, to ask people to think before they speak.

I am new here (my hubby passed on only 4 days ago after 6 months in the hospital) and I am an agnostic (raised Catholic, but not). I just carefully avoid listening/reading what I consider to be excessively religious comments. During these months, as we were hoping he would recover from being hit by the car, often people would say they are sending him prayers. For me, that was positive energy, so all good.
During this long process, I actually had begun to regret having authorised life support. Had he survived, he would have been barely functional, barely able to move hardly anything, in constant pain. But I think in the end I am glad I got to hear his lovely voice speak a few words, see recognition of me in his eyes. . .
Anyway, excessively religious language directed my way just causes me to tune people out. People really should keep their religion to themselves.

Hello again, as a Community Leader here, I would like to remind everybody that DS's Rules of the Road do cover religion/religious discussions on DS. Specifically:

"6. Religion:
DailyStrength has no religious affiliation. However, we believe that religion can play an important role in helping people overcome their challenges. Members must respect other members' differing religious beliefs, and do not assume that other Members subscribe (or want to subscribe) to yours.

Here are 3 things we ask you not to do:

a. Impose your beliefs on others. Example: Telling members of our Gay & Lesbian communities that they are "sinners" is not appropriate.

b. Disrespect someone else's religion.

c. Spamming (aka "sending unsolicited messages") to members about religion. Repeatedly posting religious passages (or anything else, for that matter) around the site is not appropriate."

The vast majority of the time, members of this board stay within limits when it comes to expressions of faith or lack thereof, and most members know not to go too far and start preaching or proselytzing. It is rare that we have big problems with it in this group. It does happen from time to time, and from time to time folks who violate the Rules of the Road get banned from the site. That's right - BANNED from the site. Please remember to be mindful of each other's sensitivities and the Rules. I would hate for anyone here to get in trouble over matters of faith.

There are some Christian member groups on DS for people who want to share their faith with other believers. So it is not a matter of whether or not you believe, or what you believe, but whether your behavior and comments here are supportive and helpful. That comment under the reply box saying you "promise to be nice" should help you stop for a moment and consider how the person receiving it will perceive it.

As I say, we don't generally have too many problems in this group, and I hope we won't have any. Hope that helps clarify.

Love and Hugs,
Martha