Today I came across "The Chaplain Who Doesn't Believe in God," an interview between Vox journalist Sean Illing and humanist chaplain Devin Moss. Moss was chosen by an Oklahoma death row inmate to be the spiritual counsel present at his execution (which, I believe, was carried out in December 2023). As an aside, that a chaplaincy could be held by an atheist is something that caught me by surprise. But what really set me to thinking was Moss's response to a question about how he, as an atheist/humanist chaplain, could offer solace to someone who does not believe in an afterlife. Here's his answer:
I find an interesting talking point in Moss's response: that a failure to live well directly translates into a failure to die well. I'm curious to see what you might have to say about this.
For me, I wonder if religious dogma might actually limit a person's ability to live well. After the affairs of this life are all said and done, eternity awaits, right? So, the flicker of time one spends on this side of death cannot possibly carry much significance.
NOTE: Being less than 30-days new to these forums, I didn't provide a link to the article I referenced above. You shouldn't have any trouble locating it on your own, however.
Quote:Death is hard for everybody and it’s hard because we avoid it personally and we most definitely avoid it as a culture. How a culture dies is a direct reflection of how they live and we do not die well in modern America. I would probably take out the border between faith and non-faith when it comes to how to die well and I would just say that dying well requires work that is to be done while you’re still very much alive, whether you have faith in a supernatural power or not.
I find an interesting talking point in Moss's response: that a failure to live well directly translates into a failure to die well. I'm curious to see what you might have to say about this.
For me, I wonder if religious dogma might actually limit a person's ability to live well. After the affairs of this life are all said and done, eternity awaits, right? So, the flicker of time one spends on this side of death cannot possibly carry much significance.
NOTE: Being less than 30-days new to these forums, I didn't provide a link to the article I referenced above. You shouldn't have any trouble locating it on your own, however.
