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Over the weekend, one of my college friends died. He was a young guy and would occasionally comment on my facebook wall when I was discussing politics. While he might have denied it, I claim him as the first person I deconverted away from Christianity. What I realized however is that much of the words we use to discuss death have a decidedly Christian ring to them.<\/p>\n
When we say, \u201cRest In Peace\u201d what are we really saying? The dead don\u2019t really rest and they have no feeling of angst of inner peace either. We all know this and yet the phrase is still used even by atheists.<\/p>\n
People don\u2019t like to say that someone died, so they often say that they \u201cpassed away.\u201d I guess this one isn\u2019t so bad, but to me it also smacks of supernatural. Passing implies moving from one place to another and there is no place that the dead have passed away to.<\/p>\n
In the case of my friend, he was \u201ctaken too early in life.\u201d Taken where and by whom? All these phrases imply an afterlife, which almost certainly don\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n
Then of course, there are the obviously religious phrases which just beat us over the head; \u201cHe went home to God,\u201d \u201cGod took him to a better place,\u201d etc.<\/p>\n
To me, I would like to say that I miss my friend and that he will be remembered. He isn\u2019t in Heaven or Hell, he lives on in our memories. A fellow friend put it this way, \u201cHe was a bright light in the world and a deep thinker who thought about the issues of our time… It is not how long you live, but how you lived.\u201d He will be missed.<\/p>\n