Atheists: Lost With Out Rituals?

[Clown Depot]

The only ritual I follow is the code of Chivalry, and its enough for me.  

[Kyrkran]

I'd say that rituals are by choice no matter what, as are your beliefs. No one person or group can make you believe anything. They also cannot force you to go through a ritual or sit through a service. Communion included.  

[Lauz]

Personally, I'd love to be mummified when I die.  

[Dathu]

Lauz

Personally, I'd love to be mummified when I die.

Really? You know when after they dug up kind Tut they checked out every inch of his body to find out why he died, but when they re-dug up his body again a few years later, a few things were missing. One of the things was his p***s! That ain't happening to me. Burn my s**t up!  

[Azurea`]

I'm part Native American and I really adore my heritage. Since I don't wanna be buried. I wish to be cremated and have my ashes spread out through my people's homeland, in the mountains. Cheerokee Pride xD
For marriage, I so don't want this typical traditional wedding. I'm gunna have it a combined way of non-traditional, but the only thing I want traditional is the wedding dress. I have it already pictured. xD
White Strapless A Cut Corset dress, with emboried roses in ivory. heart  

[_Card]

I gotta say, I don't want a religious burial. I wanna go out hardcore.

Viking funeral for me. Load a boat up with my body and useful posessions, and push me out to sea. After that, fire a flaming arrow onto the boat.

Like I said, Hardcore.  

[Dathu]

_Card

I gotta say, I don't want a religious burial. I wanna go out hardcore.

Viking funeral for me. Load a boat up with my body and useful posessions, and push me out to sea. After that, fire a flaming arrow onto the boat.

Like I said, Hardcore.

That's actually pretty bad a**.  

[Azurea`]

_Card

I gotta say, I don't want a religious burial. I wanna go out hardcore.

Viking funeral for me. Load a boat up with my body and useful posessions, and push me out to sea. After that, fire a flaming arrow onto the boat.

Like I said, Hardcore.

eek -drool- That's radical dude.  

[hikikomorihime]

Dathu

Maybe I'm alone on this, but does anyone feel a little lost about what to do to deal with important moments in life. If there is any good side to organized religion it is that it gives you a ritual to deal with big events like Death, for example. As an atheist, I don't really know what to do. If I die, I don't really know what I should have done to my body: cremation, burial, shot into space? And what about honoring the dead. Should I even visit the graves of my family? I know they are not there, but I feel I should honor them just to keep them in my mind.

There are plenty more example that I can't think of, so do you find anytime when religious rituals still help in life? What are some good alternatives? What ritual do you dislike the most.? Can one have rituals with out religion? Etc.

The only rituals I have are more related to my OCD than anything else. Some are also simply because they are pretty and make certain things more fun... Like when I have a goth-loli picnic, and I want everyone involved to eat all dainty and dignified like. I want us all to act a specific way. As for lifes problems, I deal with most as they come. When things get TOO BIG for me, I just revert to a bad habit I picked up as a youngster...

I never visit graves. I keep a part of every dead loved one in my mind. I visit them in my mind. They live forever in my memories.

When I die I would like to be cremated, but I hate that so many pollutants get released due to it... I've now been considering a green burial, although I really like the idea of cremation because I wanted small vials of my ashes mixed with glitter to be given to my family and loved ones so they wouldn't do any of that whining about wanting to visit a grave. smile My funeral is being planned well ahead of time. I want a PARTY. I have always hated attending funerals. Too depressing. I want people to rejoice for me, not mourn me. We mourn from selfishness. I plan to have a coffin shaped red-velvet cake, punch, etc. AND MUSIC! I won't be around to know about it, but I do hope that people will allow their moods to be lifted...  

[Hideaki-Sama]

Ritual is anything that you do.
Brushing your teeth, using a tic tac before a smooch, the way you say hello and the way to make love are all personal rituals we rarely think about.

For the big moments, like marriage, births, deaths and the like, atheists have an amazing range of creativity. For marriage we can marry ourselves (then legally take care of it down at the courthouse. For death we come to terms with the frailty of existance, and the celebration of our lives. We really get a chance to shape our lives halmark moments.

I kinda like that.  

[Dathu]

[ Message temporarily off-line ]  

[Dande_Lion]

For the question of what to do with your body, I recommend reading "Stiff" by Mary Roach. The best way that she outlined involved having your body doused in liquid nitrogren and shattered and then made into fertlizer to be planted with a memorial bush or tree. That's what I want done with my corpse.

I don't feel a need for rituals, like the religious folk have. But then they didn't mean a whole to me even when I was religious. It's as though a ritual makes my mind sit around thinking, "Why doesn't this seem more significant?"

But my former brother-in-law got married in a courthouse in San Francisco because it was rated as one of the nicest courhouses to get married in in California. And it was a beautiful place to get married, and they judge was really nice and personable.  

[TofuDreamer]

I want my funeral to be a treasure hunt. I hide my bodies with expensive jewels and make someone fly them all around the world. The person would get a set of clues on where to dig for the body and find the treasure of Spencer Leo.

And any rituals? It's mostly the moment kind of thing mixed in with fun.

And a handbook for atheism? Ehh... I thought atheism was more of a personal matter.  

[The MoUsY spell-checker]

Dande_Lion

For the question of what to do with your body, I recommend reading "Stiff" by Mary Roach. The best way that she outlined involved having your body doused in liquid nitrogren and shattered and then made into fertlizer to be planted with a memorial bush or tree. That's what I want done with my corpse.

Oh I've read that too. I think that's a good idea because it allows the body to become part of new life and that sounds good.  

[caustic 0_0]

Culture and family will still have a big hold on people even if they are atheist and don't have religious rituals to follow. But not having set rituals to go by gives you more freedom to do whatever you like best.
And I suppose one could copy a Bar mitzvah or do something that improves on what ever you like about the idea :0 (I would love to make a horrible joke right now, but I'll resist it.)

Whatever importance the wedding has is already between the couple, so the wedding's whatever you want it to be.
I hate weddings so whatever I do is going to be strange. >.> I love things like weddings and funerals where you get to control what goes on. For example, I could ban flowers if I wanted. Or not let anyone in who's wearing pink.
That's a good one, actually. I wonder if I made a list of things to ban from my funeral and a list of things to check for/not let people in the service who had those things, if it would be followed? o.o