Poll: Religious funerals not for everyone

HARTFORD, Conn., Aug. 20 (UPI) -- More than one-quarter of all Americans do not expect to have religious services as part of their own funerals, poll results indicate.

Researchers at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., said their national survey of 6,000 U.S. residents found 27 percent expressed doubts their funerals would include some form of religious service, USA Today reported Thursday.

The 2008 American Religious Identification survey, conducted by researchers at the college's Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture, resulted in 15 percent of respondents identifying their religion as "none."

The polling dates and margin of error for the survey were not reported.

National Funeral Directors Association President John Reed Sr. agreed that religion and church were not prominent in the lives of all modern Americans.

The funeral directors official, who did not offer any reported evidentiary support, told USA Today that half of all U.S. residents are not church members, but nonetheless "they still want ceremony and celebration at the end of life."