The U.K court of appeal finally ruled that a Hindu had the right under U.K law to have a traditional open air Hindu cremation when he dies.
Fantastic! I want one. Well not a Hindu one obviously but...well, although I have organised a humanist funeral at our local crematorium, the rows of pews, the bibles and other religious paraphernalia slightly undermined the secular intent of the occasion. So for my own funeral I also would like a big funeral pyre somewhere out in the open countryside, free from religious hocus-pocus and close to the evolved majesty of nature.
That is of course, unless someone decides this ruling only applies to Hindus. Want to take bets anyone?
"Religion is a hypothesis about the world: the hypothesis that things are the way they are, at least in part, because of supernatural entities or forces acting on the natural world. And there's no good reason to treat it any differently from any other hypothesis. Which includes pointing out its flaws and inconsistencies, asking its adherents to back it up with solid evidence, making jokes about it when it's just being silly, offering arguments and evidence for our own competing hypotheses...and trying to persuade people out of it if we think it's mistaken. It's persuasion. It's the marketplace of ideas. Why should religion get a free ride"
Greta Christina
Greta Christina
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