TITLE: "How Atheists, Freethinkers, and Humanists Deal with Death and Religious Consolations"
SPEAKER: Richard T. Hull, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, SUNY Buffalo, Author, Editor, Bioethicist, Humanist,
DESCRIPTION: How do atheists, freethinkers, humanists - people who are not believers in an afterlife - react to the deaths of loved ones, and the consolations of believers?
Richard Hull discusses both his experience of the death of a beloved son with extraordinary talents, and his experience of the attempts of friends and acquaintances, many of religious backgrounds he did not share, to console him in his grief. He presents his son's remarkable talents in order to give the audience a share of the experience of the loss of that young person, and then discusses the memorial service held that blended the views and thoughts of many family members and friends, with most of whom he did not share the consolers' beliefs. He ends with advice on how to deal with difficult consolations, with a reminder that we are all, at bottom, humans with common experiences that exceed our differences.
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