Yup. They gave us off from school so we could get haircuts n'stuff before the service.

Congratulations, Rohirrim!

Congrats, Rohirrim

The service for my husband's grandma was awful. And by awful, I mean the preacher who came in preached like it was Sunday, for her name wrong, the church didn't use our music we had picked out, bumped out anyone who wanted to say anything about Nanny,bumped out my husband and his brother for their song, and spent a half our trying to convert people.

Awwww. I'm so sorry, Liz, that sounds terrible.

That is appalling. That is absolutely appalling. I'm not normally the type to say that, but I daresay you should get in contact with whatever local papers their are, but that place deserves some public backlash for that and then some.

Also, congratulations, Rohirrim. Have fun doing whatever it is is usually done at confirmations.

That´s terrible, Liz! I agree with Mustard, they really shouldn´t get away with that!

I'm not Christian, but most of the family is, and they were even pissed off about it. Even the die hard ones. We were there to remember Nanny, not get saved and belittled and guilted into becoming saved. There's a time and a place for that [censored], and it's 9 a.m. on Sunday mornings.

Exactly! Then and there it was supposed to be all about her, nothing else!

He sang Amazing Grace and got it wrong, too.

I hadn't hears that song in years, and I still know all the words.

That's awful! I can't believe people would do that!

I hate to say it but that is the main point of most organized religion. Recruit through any means. Even the most ridiculously blatant preacher/priest should have recognized that it was not the time or place for it though.

Absolutely unacceptable behavior IMO. The funeral is for the family and is supposed to be a time for people to mourn the death/celebrate the life of the deceased and should not be used as a free pass to try and force anyone into your religion.

That's not completly true.

The above was simply my opinion. I'm sure most religious folks will disagree with me, which is definitely their right. I do see most religious groups constantly recruiting and never hesitating to pass the collection plate around with some special message about why god needs your money to help fund the preacher's Lexus though. I was religious once as well, for a long time in fact and I attended a lot of different services at lots of different churches so I'm not just rambling.

Religion, like anything else in our world, wants to make a profit. Nothing shocking about that. My parents took me to church when I was younger but I never really got the whole thing. And of course, it was boring as hell!
I prefer the pagan way if I have to choose

The only churches I have seen that don't depend on money are the ones that are based off fellowship, run from living rooms or gathered in parks. Those are so rare, nowadays. Megachurches are what the world pretty much sees now. And I find that sad.

I've actually never seen anything like this,I mean they passed the Collection Bags around but they're not for the church or the priest and you don't HAVE to put money in and they don't say God needs your money or anything like that.

That's messed up.

I live in the ass crack of the Bible belt, so it's really common here. Like every church we've gone to, it happens. It's depressing.

As a now Confirmed Roman Catholic, I must agree with Kiln. Although the priests I know ain't exactly loaded, the Church as a whole is probably one of the world's richest entities. They take up a collection for Africa, when they've got probably hundreds of billions of dollars in gold and jewels in the Vatican. I'll let you decide how to feel about that.

Also, can we please not start a religious flamewar? Please?

No flame war. I respect religion. Don't like the jerks who use it for their own wealth, power, and ego trips, but most religions have the same message.

I myself am eclectic with pagan leanings. I take what I want from each religion I come across and make my own "bible." And it works for me. And this way, I make sure that my own personal beliefs are never compromised by one particular religion's doctrine.

As a not-very-Catholic Catholic, I really like the new Pope.