Well, religious or not, it's great you respected your grandmother's wishes by having a religious ceremony, regardless of what other fmllers say. Aandacht hey, now you have something to laugh about when your sistrr is older.

sorry you had to go through such an event OP, good for your family respecting your grandma's wishes :) and you have a cute sister that you'll enjoy teasing for the rest of her life :p

Child or adult, it's not easy to understand religion. It's more about tolerance of the belief than understanding. It's good to hear honest and (yet) innocent words of a child.

At nine years old its easy to know about religion and god. i'm not shoving anything down any throats but that's just a lie its self. Anyone can know about religions its just no one ain't letting her. But I do agree with her comment.

Kids say stuff like that all the time, they haven't grown the mental filters the rest of us have yet

Don't assume the only choice is to believe in one religion, or that we must hope a child must follow Christianity. We have freedom of religion for a reason.

You are aware that there are many other religions other than Christianity, right? Just because the majority (at least the majority here where I live in the south) is Christianity, but that doesn't mean EVERYONE HAS to be a Christian. I do have my own beliefs, but it really irks me when bigots think their religion is the only 'right' one and forces it on others.

I'm athiest and I get accused of being close-minded all the time. I think everyone is just trying to set a non-religious attitude before the hardcore christ-lovers start calling the kid a heathen or something.

There's nothing wrong with being religious. Some people need it. Others don't. I don't claim any religion not even Atheism. I simply believe that you should believe whatever you feel is right. And It's true that some Atheists are just as close minded as the religious people they claim to hate but that's just humanity. We're all hypocrites.

Your last statement: You act like the parents needed to tell her that she must be Christian for the ceremony, that she must be religious. That's not true.

No one has to "become Christian" for a Christian's funeral, but they do have to respect Christianity for that funeral, and if they can't do that, they shouldn't attend. A funeral is not the place to announce your religious views or lack thereof, especially if doing so is an attack on the religious beliefs of the person being mourned.

42, you're totally right about everyone needing to respect the deceased person's beliefs during their service. But the OP's sister is a child. At 9, my nephew doesn't get religion, either, and has said similar things at funeral services. You can tell them about respecting beliefs and everything, but if they're told someone is going to be somewhere, they think you mean literally, not metaphysically. As for atheists being closed-minded... Some atheists are assholes, just like some people in every religion ever in the entirety of human civilization.

#50 you just proved that you are not tolerant by adding that insult to religion after your comment about being upset that people call you closed minded. Stop insulting beliefs and you will have less of those statements thrown at you. I can't guarantee no one will still try, but a lot less will.

He didn't say "Christians". He was referring specifically to the more extreme Christians only. Just as there are more extreme Jews, Muslims, Atheists, Hindus, etc. Every group has its more extreme side, the people who are convinced that only their way of thinking is "right". He was just referring to that specific subset of Christians.

Not true. At 6 I fully understood what death meant. And there's nothing unique about my experience.

Me too 79 but it all depends on circumstance. Some kids are sheltered.

I would argue that most (if not all) humanity still does not fully grasp the concept of death. There are many theories though.

not if she has never been to a funeral

#71 they should have told her before they were at the funeral. It should be common knowledge even to a child that you should be respectful. I went to so many funerals when I was that age an didn't say rude things like that.