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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]To the minister, in an earlier post your said  "I could not figure out why God would take her and leave the guy that broke into my church and stole the computer, for example. That struggle is what ultimately led me to work for Hopsice. "

Another person - with a different personality or different  life experience- might, at a moment like that, feel very comforted by the insight that there is no god -that the good person dying and the bad person succeeding at theft are both random events, not overseen by a higher power.

Neither person can know that they are correct, but they both have found peace, each in their own way.[/quote]
Did the minister say this? If so, that's kind of the wrong way to look at it. We're supposed to love our enemies, and the Bible says that God is patient toward us because He wants us to come to Him. Isn't it possible that God would sometimes take good people early to be with Him and leave bad people so that they could repent?[/quote]

I am the minister.  My struggle was with in trying to reconcile my friend's death with my own idea of fairness and justice.  It has nothing to do with loving my enemies.  I am human.  And I am honest.  My dear friend spent her life in service to others.  The seeming unfairness of her death hit me really hard.  As a minister who has counseled many hundreds of people through grief and loss, I know the "right answer".   That doesn't change the very raw, human emotions of anger and grief after a loss.  My feelings during that period were not wrong, they were human.  If I ever lose touch with that side of me, I'll know it's time to leave Hospice work. [/quote]

I found a reddit conversation among atheist hospice nurses that was very helpful.  Here's the link:  https://www.reddit.com/r/nursing/comments/1oxp8j/is_there_a_place_for_an_atheist_in_palliative_care/

and here's one comment: "I am a Hospice nurse case manager from Ohio and a proud non closeted atheist. You can have compassion for people while not imposing your beliefs on them just as i feel everyone should. Being a caring person has nothing to do with religious belief. As a nurse it is imperative not to blur these lines.Caring, compassion and making people comfortable during the hardest time in their lives as well as their families lives has nothing to do with your ability to pray with them. You became a nurse for a reason and wouldn't be able to make it in this profession without compassion. Have faith in yourself. (pun intended)"

I also found an abstract of a peer-reviewed article on atheist end-of-life preferences:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17803415

Here's an excerpt: "...participants view of a good death was expanded to include respect for nonbelief and the withholding of prayer or other references to God. Strong preference for physician-assisted suicide and evidence-based medical interventions were central themes from participants."

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