Funeral for a friend

Back on December 27, 2010 a friend of mine, a man my age, dropped dead of a sudden heart attack. He left behind a wife and two young children. I will miss him of course but they will miss him more. It was a shock and a devastating close to 2010.

HIs funeral was today - an overflow crowd that showed just how well liked the man was - and to my surprise half of the service was Islamic, and half was Catholic (his wife was raised Muslim - I think). And as an outsider to both I was struck by just how similar the two services were. Both were about glory to God, about my friend's life, and about the sadness we all felt and the hope their religious views offered. The Muslim Cleric even spoke briefly about what all faiths have in common. The Catholic priest kind of glossed over that, but was deferential to the cleric - who started and completed the service.

You learn new things every day if you pay enough attention. And although I'm not a religious man by any stretch and was actually moved by the cleric's words and sentiment - if not by the faith itself. The words and lessons taught by both religious men were so identical - sure some words were different and the cleric sang a couple of the prayers - that you can wonder just how such a huge rift ever developed between the two.

Then something happened that I wouldn't have caught if it weren't for the fact that I'm an outsider. The Catholic priest made certain that the ego of his own beliefs were dominant. He made certain that certain words were repeated by the people in attendance. He didn't do it to be insulting, but he dropped the name of Jesus Christ like a bartender in Hollywood. Maybe that's the way of a Catholic service; I don't actually know and I certainly don't want to show any disrespect to what I don't understand. But what I caught most of all was that there was an undercurrent of "my way or the highway" in his sermon. He went out of his way to make certain that the coffin was anointed in holy water.

The cleric didn't do that or anything like it. I was left with the impression that underneath all of the consideration and honor each man gave the other was a bit of competition.

I might be wrong. In fact, I'd say there's a good chance that I am. It's a bad idea to take one priest and one cleric and use them as generalizations. But I do wonder if people of different religions ever think about how they treat other faiths as viewed from the point of view of someone without a stake in any of them. I wonder if they'd notice how… childish it seems.

Cheap shots:

So after 2 years of complaining about the lack of hearings about healthcare, the Republicants are staging their "repeal" vote next week without a single hearing. Fucking hypocrites.

No standing and no understanding.

Um, wow. This might actually be brilliant and solve whatever problem you might think social security has.

He's being a good sport about it, but my own County Supervisor got his ass kicked by Aasif Mandvi and The Daily Show.

I wonder if he'd use the same character delivery that he uses on 30 Rock.

And because I love you, Yusef Islam.