Ministers of all faiths often times use funerals as an opportunity to impress their individual beliefs, doctrine on those attending in an attempt to proselyte or to put it into their words "win souls". I have mixed emotions about this tactic. As a Christian minister I except and believe the New Testament scripture that states "No man come to the father, except through the Son". I also believe I do not have the right to condemn the belief of others, judgment is left for one much greater than any of us.
I've been to Muslim and Jewish funerals and I can assure you no one was preaching Jesus at any of them I've attended. We heard the traditions that each faith has for this type of thing.
In times of loss most families tend to call on the faith of the family or deceased individual to give the eulogy, personally under those circumstances one can only expect to hear the perspective of that faith. At a time like this it is extremely important that the needs of the deceased family and their faith are met.
We all want our faiths to be respected as they should be, but regardless of faith, when one attends a funeral of a different faith one must realize that its their funeral, we need to be concerned with the family more than our own feelings. I personally feel that the families traditions in their faith, for that moment may just be a little more important than my toes being stepped on a little.
Nearly all faiths have their own prejudice and lack of acceptance of other religions, that's one of the reasons we have so many different beliefs. This is a reality we can not escape.
Just an Old Preacher's Opinion
Rev Robert Fuller
