# Swirl symbol in obituary **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 7, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swirl-symbol-in-obituary/573788 "2011-03-07T16:11:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swirl-symbol-in-obituary/573788/21 "2011-03-08T22:04:08Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Perry White, editor Or that other guy, the one with the glasses 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2011, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swirl-symbol-in-obituary/573788/22 "2011-03-08T23:20:49Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > Because the families of atheists who died (and who were atheists themselves, in most cases) asked for a symbol, so that the gravestone wouldn’t be blank in the symbol area. I wouldn’t mind having my grave look like a superhero’s. ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swirl-symbol-in-obituary/573788/23 "2011-03-09T11:05:46Z")
> [@](#): > > illustrations of all of the religious-type of emblems that the Department of Veterans Affairs permits So they have a symbol for atheists and Wiccans, but none for Scientologists? They’re losing out on a major demographic right there. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swirl-symbol-in-obituary/573788/24 "2011-03-09T11:14:02Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > Maybe, but the point is that even if you think that there should be no symbol for atheists, other atheists disagreed, and the VA decided to listen to them. …which, as I said, plays into the whole “Atheism is a religion too” fallacy. Maybe that swirl symbol is a metaphor for circular arguments. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swirl-symbol-in-obituary/573788/25 "2011-03-09T12:09:02Z")
[Symbols.com](http://www.symbols.com/encyclopedia/14/1414.html) lists a bunch of meanings (among them the meaning of ‘a good house for work’ with the British hobo community, or, listed under its [inversion](http://www.symbols.com/encyclopedia/14/149.html), that it was used by alchemists to signify ‘horse dung’) but none of them seems to be ‘circle of life’. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swirl-symbol-in-obituary/573788/26 "2011-03-09T18:53:30Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > …which, as I said, plays into the whole “Atheism is a religion too” fallacy. > > Maybe that swirl symbol is a metaphor for circular arguments. Your beef is with atheists, not the VA. I hope you understand that, at least. There was no symbol for atheists until they complained. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swirl-symbol-in-obituary/573788/27 "2011-03-10T17:49:07Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > …which, as I said, plays into the whole “Atheism is a religion too” fallacy. It’s pretty ironic that you’re concerned that atheism not be perceived as a religion, and yet you talk about it as if it has established doctrine. “Thou shalt not use symbols on thy headstones.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swirl-symbol-in-obituary/573788/28 "2011-03-11T12:34:01Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > Who decided atheists needed a logo too? That just plays into the whole fallacious atheism-is-a-religion-too routine. While atheism isn’t a religion, it is an unfounded belief just like religions. I am a thorough-going agnostic who believes, deep down, that there is no god. So i call myself an atheist, but it is only a belief. Would I want a symbol on my grave? Why not? How about a Darwin fish? ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swirl-symbol-in-obituary/573788/29 "2011-03-11T14:31:23Z")
Is there a symbol for “Christian who’s so pissed off at the religious right that he doesn’t want a cross”? Ooh, maybe I’ll design _ **The Left-Leaning Cross** _™! Watch for it on doper gravestones next year… Or I’ll make a symbol for _People Who Would Hate To Have Their Beliefs Reduced To A Symbol_. ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swirl-symbol-in-obituary/573788/30 "2011-03-12T16:20:31Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Is there a symbol for “Christian who’s so pissed off at the religious right that he doesn’t want a cross”? Ooh, maybe I’ll design _ **The Left-Leaning Cross** _™! Watch for it on doper gravestones next year… I prefer my Dopers alive, tyvm. Don’t want to see _any_ Doper gravestones next year! ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swirl-symbol-in-obituary/573788/31 "2011-03-12T16:47:58Z")
Arguably, the Disciples of Christ have dropped a left leaning cross into that wine goblet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swirl-symbol-in-obituary/573788.md?page=1)