A Final Good Deed

For some time now I've had in mind what I want to have done with my body after I die. I know, it seems morbid, but really it's a great opportunity to make a difference even after death. The thing is, while I've told Butch (my awesome husband) and have made it clear that I want to give my body to science, I haven't followed through to make it easy for him if something unexpected happens.

My, this is so cheery as I face my 42nd birthday (March 2, gifts and Amazon gift certificates welcome! HA! Just kidding, cash is preferred. :P )

The other day a friend of mine on Facebook posted about how wasteful cemeteries are. He wrote, "Cemeteries are not a good idea. Natural resources are wasted, financial strain is put on the less fortunate, mass plots of land are deforested for coffins and burial space, names are forgotten, space is further limited, more natural resources are wasted, and religion is reinforced. We must critically think about alternatives." I agree!

So I commented about donating your body to science and he asked how to go about it. He'd never heard of it. Then I wondered, do most people not know about this final charitable act? I should find out more for myself and others and then write about it!

First, you have 2 options for donating your body after death. One is organ donation, which you can do through your state, when you renew your driver's license (I was able to sign up online). You can help up to 8 people with your donation, how cool is that? Some of those people will get a new lease on life because of you.

Did you know even an 80 year old can be an organ donor? So make sure you have your organ donor card.

The problem is, you have to die under rather specific circumstances to be able to be an organ donor. You have to basically die where you can be ventilated immediately. So if you die at home or in an accident, unless an ambulance can start ventilating you, your organs can't be used. Only 1-3% of people die in a way that they can be a donor.

UPDATE: There is actually one program, Science Care,  that lets you both donate your organs for transplant then the rest of your body for science. See below for more information. This is the program Butch and I are looking to sign up with.

In some of these cases you could still do option 2, which is donate your whole body to science.

There are 2 ways a body is used when donated this way, either for education or research. While you can save up to 8 lives with organ donation, this whole body donation can save countless lives by training potential doctors and/or helping people do important research.

Atheists Expressing Sympathy

I found a site called Sympathy 101 for Atheists and I thought I'd share it with you. Dealing with death can be extremely painful and sad, but it happens to all of us eventually. As atheists, most of the people we know are probably religious. How can we be genuine and honest and still be sympathetic to our religious loved ones when someone dies?

Atheists are often seen as cold because we don't have faith. We see death as an end to our lives, end of story. Religious people see death as a transition to something greater.  But we feel pain and emotion and loss just as much as anyone else. I think it might even be harder for atheists to lose a loved one than a religious person because they have hope (albeit false) that they will see their beloved in the afterlife while the godless know that death is final and there will not be any reunions.

So, how can we express our sympathies to someone who has lost a loved one while still maintaining our integrity and honesty? Here are some examples from the site:

Recognize the loss and express sorrow. If you knew the deceased, express your shared loss.

• "I'm so sorry for your loss."


• "I was sad to hear of his death."


• "It seems so unfair."

Express your appreciation of the deceased by relating positive ways the person affected your life or the life of the grieving friend or loved one.

• "She made the world a better place with all she did."


• "Every time your dad called, your face lit up."

Talk about how your friend or loved one made the deceased person's life better.

The Afterlife and Sentient Rocks

Last night our local group of heathens and extended friends had our Winter Solstice/Festivus/FSM Holiday/Christmas/Hanukkah party. It was fun. The conversation was very interesting and incredibly diverse. Here are two topics I discussed.

I was talking to a Buddhist physicist who works for NASA part time. He started talking about how the earth and rocks have sentience. I disagreed, of course. He had this weird logic that was completely flawed. He said something about how humans are sentient, and we need the sun and the earth so they are sentient too. Um, what? And he works for NASA?

My friend Eric works for NASA. He went to his office christmas party where they prayed at the beginning "in jesus name".

This is fascinating and disturbing. I had this idea that people in places like NASA are rational and critical thinkers. But I guess you can be smart in one area and compartmentalize your beliefs and faith in the supernatural in another, and blithely eschew critical thinking. I think early and lifelong indoctrination is definitely a factor. It is disheartening, though.

~

One of my friends, Jim, is a grief counselor so he and I ended up talking about death and the afterlife. Cheery, huh?

We both agreed that as atheists, there is no fear of death. Being dead is natural. It's the end. For about 14 billion years before you were born you didn't exist. Now you do. Eventually (hopefully later rather than sooner, after a rewarding and wonderful life) you will die. We all die.

Where I have problems with death is the actual act of dying. I really don't want to suffer. I don't like pain. I don't want to lose all of my dignity. As Jim said, though, we are really working on that.

Anyway, if you're religious, you are led to believe that there is an afterlife. Well, some religions anyway. Apparently the jews don't hold to that notion. So if you're a muslim and you do good deeds like kill a bunch of innocent infidels you and 72 members of your family go to heaven where you get 72 virgins (see inside label for details).

If you're a christian, you get two choices (well, catholics get purgatory, too). You're going to hell unless you get saved and accept jesus as your savior (rules and restrictions may differ for your denomination. See insert). Then you get to go to heaven to worship god for all eternity.

Religious Murderers Get Off Easy

Janet Moses was 22, a mother of two, and was surrounded by people who "loved" her when she died a horrible torturous death. Her family was trying to exorcise the demon they thought she had. 5 of her family were convicted of manslaughter. Their sentence was for community service, and 4 of them have to take a Maori culture course.

That's right, they tortured and killed their relative and received community service.

Justice France acknowledged some might not see the sentences as adequate but his reasons included:

• They were trying to save, not harm, her.


• Sleep deprivation greatly affected rational judgment.


• High level of co-operation with police afterwards.


• No-one suffered more from the death than the offenders and their family.

So, if you suffer when you're drowning your sister for two days, make sure you don't get any sleep, and proclaim that you're trying to save her. That makes it A-OK. How does that make any logical sense?

How Far Does God Push The Faithful?

Apparently Abraham is the role model for how far god can push the faithful. Only in real cases, sometimes someone innocent actually dies. It seems that parents kill their children through denial of medical attention all too frequently these days. Often I don't blog about these sad stories because I am so enraged I don't feel I can do it without copious amounts of profanity and vitriol.

We have all heard about the Neumanns. They were both convicted of 2nd degree reckless homicide in the death of their 11 year old daughter Madeline. She had diabetes but it was undiagnosed. She died a horrible death at home, surrounded by praying sheeple who refused to call an ambulance until she stopped breathing. Doctors testified that Madeline could have been saved if she had received simple medical care like insulin and fluids before she stopped breathing.

The mother said that she and her husband believed their daughter's deteriorating condition may have been the result of a falling out with another couple, and called them once the girl was unconscious and persuaded them to come pray for the girl.

"I asked her if she loved Jesus," the mother testified. "She might have said yes. I know for sure she was acknowledging it. What sounds came out, I don't remember. She was making noises. ... My focus definitely was to pray."

Their lawyer told the jury that Neumann sincerely believed praying would heal his daughter and he did nothing criminally wrong.

"Dale Neumann was doing what he thought would work for his daughter. He was administering faith healing. He thought it was working."

What god would punish a young girl because her parents had a fight with another couple? Oh, right. The christian god. Of course. Dale Neumann had studied to be a pentecostal minister, but at the time of Madeline's death the family didn't belong to any organized religion. The mother said she didn't have anything against doctors either. Then why is her daughter dead? Oh, right, because it was a spiritual illness. Yeah, the prayer really was helping. I see why they decided to hold off on the tried and true medical care in favor of pleas to an invisible man in the sky. Go with what (doesn't) work, and keep doing it till your daughter is dead. Smart thinking.

Why christians Fight To Stay Alive

Last month I wrote about a study regarding cancer treatment for the religious. It found that deeply religious people went to great lengths just to stay alive, even if it reduced the quality of your remaining life. It's incredibly weird. Shouldn't they be eager to end their suffering and move on to heaven? Well, luckily for me (and for you), Edward Current has the answers we're looking for. He did a video (3:17) explaining the results of the study. It's good stuff:



When I saw the above video, I found an older one that went along with it. It's about 3 minutes long, too:



So that's THAT! Now we can all sleep better at night knowing why christians cling to life and yet are unafraid of death, and the pope rides in the pope mobile. Ya gotta love LOGIC! LOL!

Honor Killings are Illegal? Turkey Resorts To Honor Suicides For Women

First, let's talk a little about Turkey.

Turkey is a secular democracy with no state religion. It's a developed country and a regional power with close relationships to many other countries. The people are educated with a good life expectancy of 73 years. The men are better educated than the women but school is free and compulsory from ages 6-15. The reason there is a discrepancy for women is because in the southeastern provinces, Kurds and Arabs hold their traditional customs.

There is no state religion in Turkey and their constitution provides the freedom of religion and conscience but does not promote a religion. But here's where things go downhill. 99% of the country is muslim. There are a few minority religious there too, and about 3.2% are irreligious or atheists. A poll in 2002 reported that 65% of the people believe "religion is very important." Another poll in 2005 found that 95% of the citizens believe "there is a god."

Here's where it gets sickening. Honor killings in Turkey have been getting more common. The government estimated them at about 200 a year, half of all the murders committed in the country. So in 2005 Turkey changed the law so that honor killers would receive a life sentence instead of being able to get a reduced sentence, claiming provocation. Still, there is now about one honor killing a week in Istanbul, so it's spreading into the modern cities as well.

Now a new phenomenon is brewing - honor suicides. Women are told to kill themselves so that no one has to go to prison for life for murdering them.

Interesting Study Regarding Cancer Treatment For Religious

No one wants to get cancer. If someone gets it, how do they handle treatment? How do they face their own imminent death?

A recent study about End of Life Care (EOL) for people with terminal cancer produced some interesting results that I had to share with you.

Link Between Religious Coping And Aggressive Treatment In Terminally Ill Cancer Patients

"Recent research has shown that religion and spirituality are major sources of comfort and support for patients confronting advanced disease. We focused specifically on positive religious coping, on people who rely on their faith to handle the stresses of serious illness and approaching death. Our findings indicate that patients who turn to religion to cope in times of crisis, such as when facing death, are more likely to receive aggressive care when they die."

The study involved 345 advanced cancer patients at seven hospital and cancer centers around the country.

An analysis of the data showed that patients identified as positive religious copers had nearly three times the odds of receiving life-prolonging care, in the form of being on a ventilator or receiving cardiopulmonary resuscitation, in the final week of life. Even after researchers accounted for the influence of important factors such as age, ethnicity, or other coping techniques, the connection between religious coping and aggressive EOL care held up.

The researchers also found that religious copers in the study were less likely to have completed advance medical directives, such as a living will or do-not-resuscitate order, which can limit the extent of such interventions in advance. The effects of religious coping on the use of intensive medical care in the last week of life remained significant even after adjusting for differences in advance care planning.

Wow. So, if you're deeply religious, you go to great lengths, even if it reduces the quality of your remaining hours and days, just to stay alive. How bizarre. Shouldn't you be happy and eager to die and be on your way to heaven? Why cling to life in your hospital bed, tied up to tubes and machines, just to be not dead for another week?