Very weak ending for non-religious people

I'm glad I saw the movie and there were many things to like. The performances were great overall although I can also understand some people who say Denzel could have toned it down just a notch for the film version although I still enjoyed his performance. And yes, the movie is quite mediocre as a pure film as it is an extremely direct adaptation of the play and it could have been more ambitious in terms of adapting it to the screen (cinematography etc).

I also found the main character to be less charming than many other viewers. I know he is this flawed person with huge character flaws, but we are also meant to empathize with him and find him charming at times. I did empathize when he told the story about his father (very powerful), but I found his behavior tiring and obnoxious even when he was supposed to be charming and jokey like in the first 10 minutes. But that's just me, I hate many of the personality traits that the main character has (ridiculous self-centered over the top stories, self-righteous etc.).

However, I digress. My main problem with the movie is with the ending which pushed the movie from "pretty great movie" to "a good but flawed movie" category for me. I am not religious so I found the whole symbolism of the trumpet playing opening the sky and the family staring in awe very weak. I feel such endings are a cliche, but that's not even the main weakness. It is that for a non-religious person who does not believe in concepts such as heaven, the ending rings emotionally hollow.

And the thing is, I can definitely appreciate if not even enjoy religious symbolism and themes in movies even if I don't believe in god myself if the religious imagery and themes ring emotionally true. In this case, I found the ending to be jarring because the last thing we see is the main character being abusive toward his own son and essentially being toxic to everyone around him.

However, then immediately after that the last scene has the tone of "let's understand him and even forgive him, he tried his best" which I personally find very strange. There was less ambiguity in the last scene than I was expecting. I know they did not make him a hero at the end, but they did "pardon his sins" in a way and to have the last image of the movie and the last emotional takeaway be that the main character is now in heaven feels very, very strange. I appreciate if others disagree, but the ending was too cliche and emotionally unsatisfying if you don't personally believe in the whole redemption and going to heaven stories of Christianity.