When religious leaders die

For me, Jimmy Carter’s death came too soon.

Not necessarily because of his age. He lived to the ripe old age of 100 and, in many respects, lived those years to the fullest.

No, and if I may be crass for a moment, Carter passed before I had a reporting guide ready for reporters looking to cover the faith angles of his life and legacy.

You see, as Editor for ReligionLink, I put together resources and reporting guides for journalists covering topics in religion. Each month, we publish a guide covering topics such as education and church-state-separation under Trump, faith and immigration or crime and houses of worship.

Early in 2024, I started to put together a guide to cover the passing of Jimmy Carter. Serving as Editor is only a part-time gig, and it usually takes all the time I have dedicated to the role to produce a single, monthly guide. But on the side, I started to make notes, identify sources and build a timeline for Carter’s life and legacy.

When he passed on December 29, 2024, the guide was not ready. Nor would it be in the matter of days necessary for it to be useful. So, the opportunity came and went. The draft of the guide to covering Jimmy Carter’s passing tossed on the editing floor.

The missed occasion, however, inspired me to work ahead more intentionally on guides for other famous faith leaders. The process of putting such guides together led me to reflect on what it means to remember, and report on, the passing of prominent figures in religion. 

Death & Dying the Buddhist Way

Krista Liang sat relaxed, but reflexive, on a wicker chair in front of the white-and-gold, bell-shaped stupa tucked into a small courtyard at the Bodhicharya Buddhist Center in Berlin, Germany. Taking a moment’s pause from her meditation, she started talking about death — of all things — with those around her. 

For Liang, death isn’t a taboo topic. From her Buddhist perspective, it is like any other facet of life — birth, marriage, or taxes. 

“Death and dying are vitally important in Buddhism, there’s a constant reminder of it,” said Liang, “the Buddha says that anything that is born on earth, dies.”

That is part of what attracted Liang to Bodhicharya in the first place. 

Meditative art at the Bodhicharya center in Berlin, Germany. (PHOTO: Ken Chitwood)

Located in Berlin’s hip, alternative Friedrichshain neighborhood, Bodhicharya isn’t only known for its meditation, yoga, and tai chi classes, but its mobile hospice service — Hospizdienst Horizont. 

Hospizdienst Horizont aims to maintain the quality of life of the critically ill and dying with a Buddhist orientation toward death as transition. Michaela Dräger, staff-member at Horizont, said their trained “volunteer companions” provide compassionate care for their patients’ mental, emotional, and spiritual health until the very end. 

Hospizdienst Horizont is part of a broader trend in providing Buddhist spiritual accompaniment for the critically ill and dying in Europe and North America. 

From Berlin to California, diverse communities are calling for Buddhist and other, non Judeo-Christian spiritual perspectives to be integrated into existing palliative care, hospice service, and chaplaincy programs. This “Buddhist end-of-life movement” not only testifies to an aging generation of Buddhists in the West — both converts and immigrants — but to the felt need of non-Buddhist patients seeking spiritual accompaniment at the end of life. 

It is also confronting conventional Western views of life and death.