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Moville's atheists will have to be buried in Derry

Posted Friday, August 29, 2008

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Derry

The mother of top journalist Roy Greenslade had to be buried in Derry on Tuesday at Ballyowen cemetery.

Moville's atheists had better reconvert or get in touch with Ballyowen beforehand.

It seems that all the cemeteries in Moville, as in the whole of Donegal, are church owned and that you can't have a burial without a religious service.

There are some run by Donegal Council - but only ones that are disused.

Impossible

Said Greenslade:-

"Therefore unless one is willing to compromise one's beliefs by agreeing to a religious service, it is impossible to be buried," he said.

He said his mother would have enjoyed the black comedy.

"There is a degree of black comedy about this, and my mother, who had a fantastic sense of humour, would certainly have laughed.

Which Section

"When I rang up and asked Derry City Council's cemeteries department if it was possible to bury an atheist in a municipal cemetery they said it was possible because there were different sections for Catholics, Protestants and Muslims.

"My wife asked if it meant they were going to start an atheist section and the woman said, 'oh no, she can go in with the Protestants'."