Religion From The Outside

It's a little weird going to a funeral for a woman you don't know, but you do it to help a friend through a tough time. I went last night to the funeral of the mother of a co-worker and friend. The service was filled with memories of the person she was. It was filled with hope for a better life for all of us after we die. It was filled with tears. But it was also filled with an out of place guilt trip and a forceful push for us all to become Baptists.

I am a Catholic but I have been to a Baptist Church or two. My girlfriend is Baptist and at Virginia Heights Baptist Church in Roanoke I've always felt welcome and I've never been pushed to join the church. In fact I've never felt uncomfortable in another church until last night.

Toward the end of the service the preacher asked everyone to bow their heads in prayer. He prayed for us all to find the lord, and then it took a turn. He said it was the woman's wish for us all to be saved. He then told us to raise our hands if we want to go to heaven and be with the lord. He went on to talk about how much money the woman had given to the church...Not once or twice or three times...He brought it up every chance he got.

His inflection and words made it sound like he was saying this woman has died, and she wants us to join this church, and if we don't we're being somehow rude to the deceased. And after we join the church we should give all of our money to the church.

Funerals are a place to cry, and remember the person who's passed. They are not a place to try to force membership, or ask you to open your wallet.

Several people at work that went to the service commented today that that's the way Baptist funerals and services are. That's not true, but now I know why they think that.

(note: I did not put the name of the church out of respect for the family.)

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