🎬 Videos(5)
Video
RfRx - On Death, Dying and Disbelief with Candace Gorham, LCMHCS
Recovering from Religion
Everyone grieves in their own way and according to their own timeframe, the accepted wisdom tells us. But those in mourning rarely find comfort in knowing this and those looking to support someone in mourning can do little with this advice, leaving them with a sense of helplessness. As a mental health professional and someone who has dealt with her own share of personal grief, Candace R. M. Gorham understands well the quest for relief. The truth of the matter, she says, is there is no one way to grieve, but there are things that are important to pay attention to while mourning. While much of the advice she shares is universal, she pays particular attention to the struggle those who do not believe in a god or afterlife face with the loss of a loved one--and offers practical, life-affirming steps for them to remember and heal.
Video
RfRx - Grief without God with Kayce Hodos, LPC
Recovering from Religion
We are all grieving in some shape or form, some more than others. How do you handle your grief, how does one handle grief now if you've given up the belief that a god is in control? How should we respond to someone who is grieving? This week we'll be navigating through these questions and more. Join us as we talk with Kayce Hodos, LPC and provide you with some tools on how to manage our grief.
Video
RfRx - Grief Vampires with Susan Gerbic
Recovering from Religion
Susan Gerbic is the founder of the Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia project (GSoW). This is an organization of volunteers contributing to the accuracy of Wikipedia in many languages. She also is the founder of a local skeptic group, the Monterey County Skeptics, which holds an annual short conference known as a SkeptiCamp. Since 2018, Susan has been a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), and she is a frequent contributor to their online magazine, the Skeptical Inquirer. She also makes regular appearances on The Skeptic Zone, billed as "the podcast from Australia for Science and Reason." In 2019, Susan was awarded the Robert P. Balles Prize for Critical Thinking, and in 2018 she used a grant from the James Randi Educational Foundation to establish a non-profit, About Time, focusing on scientific skepticism and activism. While her particular focus has been on educating the public about psychic mediums – which she has dubbed "Grief Vampires" and which we will discuss tonight – Susan's activism encompasses many areas of interest to scientific skepticism, such as alternative-medicine, conspiracy theories, and facilitated communications.
📄 Articles(6)
Article
Secular Grief, and the Loss of Stability and Safety - TheHumanist.com
Greta Christina
When someone we love dies, it can intensely undermine our sense of stability and safety. Our lives have been changed forever, generally by forces we had no control over--and it can feel as if nothing's in our control. It can feel like the ground under our feet, which we once thought was stable, has suddenly [...]
Article
Grief Without Belief: How Do Atheists Deal With Death?
HuffPost
For all the talk of rationality, intellectual honesty, and objectivity we engage in as atheists, this is one of the most uncomfortable questions we have ...
Article
After Life
Ricky Gervais
Struggling to come to terms with his wife's death, a writer for a newspaper adopts a gruff new persona in an effort to push away those trying to help.
Article
Fleabag
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Sian Clifford, Olivia Colman
Irreverent amazon prime show about a woman's lack of healthy coping after her friend's death; Layers and layers of loss; explores relationships with family; the final season deals with religion
Article
Secular Grief Support Group ONLINE
Meetup
This grief group is for secular people who have experienced a recent or not-so-recent loss. For those who want a place to process that loss and their on-going grief. A place to remember a loved one and to express difficult emotions -- or a place to process "ambiguous" grief. A place to share with and support others in a life riven with grief. This is a peer-to-peer led group for people with no belief in a higher power or consciousness and for those who have no belief in an afterlife. Participants are encouraged to speak to their own loss and share their current challenges with grief. Feel free to drop in one time or join us on a regular basis as desired. We meet once a month. We offer no professional grief counseling.
📚 Books(3)
Book
Lost Faith and Wandering Souls - A Psychology of Disillusionment, Mourning, and the Return of Hope
David Morris
A deeper look at the religious identity crisis of our time that shows a way past our debates and toward a healthier spirituality. Americans are obsessed with religion. You're either in or you're out; you're this or you're that. Except now, so many of us just want to forget the whole thing. We often feel angry, hurt, and alone, while knowing there's a better way. Lost Faith and Wandering Souls helps readers get at these important feelings of disillusionment and shows that the keys to rediscovering hope are within. Religion commentator David Morris puts theological arguments aside and holds up our humanity as equally important. He treats the loss of faith as if it were any other kind of loss, and asks, what if we learned to mourn? He turns to psychoanalytic psychology for its interpretive power. With the concepts of mourning, pining, and play, he shines a light on a path forward. Applying these concepts to contemporary spiritual memoirs, Morris discovers a back-and-forth movement in overcoming faith loss, going between feelings of numbness, self-recrimination, and wandering to playfulness, self-agency, and belonging. If we can feel our loss, he argues, then we can rediscover meaning making. Lost Faith and Wandering Souls acknowledges the religious identity crisis of our time and the full power of the psychological journey. By looking beneath the surface at deep, lifelong dynamics, it shows a way through our losses individually and socially toward a healthier, inclusive spirituality.
Book
Dad, God, and Me
Ralph Friesen
In a compelling, honest, and transparent account, Ralph Friesen tells the story of his father, Reverend Peter D. Friesen of Steinbach, Manitoba. He also tells his own story, of the search for his father and a crisis of faith. Growing up in a fundamentalist Mennonite community as the son of a minister, Ralph resisted the pressure to be 'saved' and struggled to find a spiritual alternative.
Book
On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, David Kessler
Just as On Death and Dying taught us the five stages of death -- denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance -- On Grief and Grieving applies these stages to the grieving process and weaves together theory, inspiration, and practical advice, including sections on sadness, hauntings, dreams, isolation, and healing.
🏢 Organizations(5)
Organization
organization
Grief Beyond Belief
The aim of Grief Beyond Belief is to facilitate peer-to-peer grief support for atheists, Humanists, and other Freethinkers by providing spaces free of religion, spiritualism, mysticism, and evangelism in which to share sorrow and offer the comfort of rational compassion.
Organization
organization
Death, Grief, and Belief
Help for Religious Trauma and Toxic Theology When Facing Loss or Grief
Organization
organization
The American Associationg for Death Education and Counseling
The Association for Death Education and Counseling®, The Thanatology Association®, is one of the oldest interdisciplinary organizations in the field of dying, death and bereavement. Its nearly 2,000 members include a wide array of psychologists, counselors, social workers, educators, researchers, hospice personnel, clergy, and volunteers. The primary goal of ADEC is to enhance the ability of professionals to meet the needs of those with whom they work in death education and grief counseling.
Organization
organization
The Compassionate Friends
The mission of The Compassionate Friends: When a child dies, at any age, the family suffers intense pain and may feel hopeless and isolated. The Compassionate Friends provides highly personal comfort, hope, and support to every family experiencing the death of a son or a daughter, a brother or a sister, or a grandchild, and helps others better assist the grieving family.