Being someone who has lost a parent as a young child and an atheist as an adult, this episode definitely triggered me in multiple ways.
There's a review couple down that hits the atheist perspective pretty on the nose, so I'm not going to spend too much time on that except for it really did disrespect the atheist viewpoint. We're raised in a country where believing in a spiritual power is the norm. Making the conscious, ostracizable decision to break from that belief is actually a very heavy and difficult decision, especially after losing a loved one. It's letting go of the possibility of hope and reconnection. It's losing a guardian angel. It's knowing they missed those special moments. That hurts the heart, but it has personally allowed me to appreciate the finiteness and importance of life.
So, for Kurt's friends to be mad at him and for him to have to apologize while he's trying to process another traumatic event is despicable. I had friends who tried to be supportive while my dad was sick, and I was irrationally pissed, too. It's grief, and it's natural to feel (and we continued being friends for years afterwards). Kurt didn't need to apologize for putting up walls while his world was falling apart - that's self protection and preservation, and there is zero shame in that. As friends, you sit on the sidelines and just be there ready for when the sufferer is ready to break down, and then you listen to them. You don't shove your personal ideological perspectives down their throats and call it "comfort," especially when they're not ready.
But the Cheezus sandwich was funny.
There's a review couple down that hits the atheist perspective pretty on the nose, so I'm not going to spend too much time on that except for it really did disrespect the atheist viewpoint. We're raised in a country where believing in a spiritual power is the norm. Making the conscious, ostracizable decision to break from that belief is actually a very heavy and difficult decision, especially after losing a loved one. It's letting go of the possibility of hope and reconnection. It's losing a guardian angel. It's knowing they missed those special moments. That hurts the heart, but it has personally allowed me to appreciate the finiteness and importance of life.
So, for Kurt's friends to be mad at him and for him to have to apologize while he's trying to process another traumatic event is despicable. I had friends who tried to be supportive while my dad was sick, and I was irrationally pissed, too. It's grief, and it's natural to feel (and we continued being friends for years afterwards). Kurt didn't need to apologize for putting up walls while his world was falling apart - that's self protection and preservation, and there is zero shame in that. As friends, you sit on the sidelines and just be there ready for when the sufferer is ready to break down, and then you listen to them. You don't shove your personal ideological perspectives down their throats and call it "comfort," especially when they're not ready.
But the Cheezus sandwich was funny.