She is just covering all the basis. Besides, isn't it that religious people always offer to pray for anyone, so why question the motives.

Anonymous wrote:To the nice, experienced, kind people posting in this thread (1700 and 1729):

Where have you been? We have been needing you here.

To be fair, seems like they have other things going on.

To the nice, experienced, kind people posting in this thread (1700 and 1729):

Where have you been? We have been needing you here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one is an atheist with stage 4 cancer just like
no one is an atheist on an active battlefield.

Interfaith Hospice Minister here. I’ve been with hundreds of people as they died. Many of them atheists. Your statement is simply not true.

Agreed. I'm a physician who has been at many deaths as well.

It's the kind of statement someone makes in a loud voice, as if you say it loud enough, it will be true. Factually, it isn't.

Anonymous wrote:I’m an Interfaith Hospice Minister. I’m the one they call when someone doesn’t fit into a neat spiritual path. It’s not unusual for atheists and agnostics to ask for prayer towards the end. Your role as a person of faith is not to question motive. Your only focus should be on providing peace and comfort. You don’t try to convert. You don’t preach. You simply follow their lead. I would use very spiritually inclusive, affirmative prayer.

DP here. Are you the hospice minister who has posted on DCUM for a while? If so, I want to thank you for your kind, detailed and helpful posts. Your posts helped DH and I when my FIL was dying a few years ago and last year when my dad passed. You do not disappoint in this thread either.

OP does seem remarkably cruel, though.

In any event, I just had an atheist relative die of aggressive cancer. She asked her lifelong friend, who was devoutly religious, to pray for her. It was a gift to the friend, who was heartbroken and felt helpless in the face of the tragedy. I can assure you that my relative died an atheist, and her dear friend also appreciated the opportunity to pray for her.

My guess is that level of compassion is beyond OP, though.

Anonymous wrote:OP is the most godless person I know.

You don't know the OP so that's pretty ridiculous.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe she’s asking for YOUR benefit, to ease YOUR pain.

Because she’s kinder than you.

Bull.

The patient in question has likely had at least two dozen people already ask her if it is OK to pray for her. This is a way to get there faster.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your instinct is to remotely question or pause when someone with stage 4 pancreatic cancer reaches out to you for prayer, or even "good thoughts," you are not truly a person of faith.

+1

+2

Op, you are not a good person.

Anonymous wrote:No one is an atheist with stage 4 cancer just like
no one is an atheist on an active battlefield.

Interfaith Hospice Minister here. I’ve been with hundreds of people as they died. Many of them atheists. Your statement is simply not true.

I’m an Interfaith Hospice Minister. I’m the one they call when someone doesn’t fit into a neat spiritual path. It’s not unusual for atheists and agnostics to ask for prayer towards the end. Your role as a person of faith is not to question motive. Your only focus should be on providing peace and comfort. You don’t try to convert. You don’t preach. You simply follow their lead. I would use very spiritually inclusive, affirmative prayer.

No one is an atheist with stage 4 cancer just like
no one is an atheist on an active battlefield.

Anonymous wrote:Maybe she’s asking for YOUR benefit, to ease YOUR pain.

Because she’s kinder than you.

Bull.

Maybe she’s asking for YOUR benefit, to ease YOUR pain.

Because she’s kinder than you.

OP is the most godless person I know.