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Main article: Cremation in the Christian World
In Christian countries, cremation fell out of favour due to the Christian belief in the physical resurrection of the body. Beginning in the Middle Ages, rationalists and classicists began to advocate it. In the Medieval Europe, cremation was practised only on special occasions, such as in situations where there were multitudes of corpses simultaneously present, such as after a battle, after a pestilence or famine, and there was an imminent danger of diseases spreading by the corpses.
The first to approve cremation were the Protestant churches, whose rationale was "God can resurrect a bowl of ashes just as conveniently as He can resurrect a bowl of dust". The development of modern crematoria also helped to make difference on the Pagan rite of burning the corpse on pyre. The first crematoria in the Protestant countries were built in 1870s.
For most of its history, the Roman Catholic Church had a ban in place against cremation, which was lifted in the 1960s. The church still officially prefers the traditional burial of the deceased. Cremation is now permitted as long as it is not done to express a refusal to believe in the resurrection of the body, and the church has become more open to the idea of cremation. [2] Until 1997, Church regulations stipulated that cremation was to take place after the funeral service has taken place. Permission of the Ordinary is still required to bring ashes into the church for the Mass of Christian Burial. The Church does specify requirements for the reverent disposition of ashes. This means that the ashes are to be buried or entombed in an appropriate container, such as an urn. The Church does not permit the scattering of ashes or keeping them at home.
Some branches of Christianity still oppose cremation. The Eastern Orthodox Church forbids cremation. Exceptions are made for circumstances where it may not be avoided (when civil authority demands it, or epidemics) or if it may be sought for good cause, but when a cremation is willfully chosen for no good cause by the one who is deceased, he or she is not permitted a funeral in the church and may also be permanently excluded from liturgical prayers for the departed. In Orthodoxy, cremation is a rejection of the dogma of the general resurrection, and as such is viewed harshly. Some of the more traditional members of the Catholic church have objected to the practice of allowing cremation.
Judaism
Judaism has traditionally disapproved of cremation, as it was the traditional means of disposing the dead in the neighbouring Bronze Age Pagan Semitic cultures, but also disapproved of preservation of the dead by means of embalming and mummifying, as the Egyptians did. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, as the Jewish cemeteries in many European towns had become crowded and were running out of space, cremation became an approved means of burial amongst the Liberal Jews.
The Orthodox Jews have maintained a stricter line on cremation, and disapprove of it as Halakha (Jewish law) forbids it, considering a soul of a cremated person will remain as a restless wanderer for eternity. Also, the memory of the Holocaust, where millions of Jews were murdered and their bodies disposed by burning them either in crematoria or burning pits, has given cremation extremely negative connotations in the minds of Orthodox Jews, who often view it as blasphemy.
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrians have traditionally prohibited cremation, on the grounds of the sacred nature of fire. They consider fire would become contaminated if it is used to dispose dead corpses. Instead they have left their dead on specific Towers of Silence, where birds of prey are allowed to devour their flesh; the bones are then entombed in the ossuary inside the tower. As modern hygiene regulations prohibit this means of body disposal in many countries, Zoroastrians either favour conventional burials, while some sects do allow cremation, though this is forbidden by the Gathas. The former Queen lead singer, Freddie Mercury, who was Zoroastrian, was cremated after his death. In addition, Rajiv Gandhi received a well-publicized cremation on a sandal wood pyre, and he too was Parsi (though maternally of Hindu descent).
Neopaganism
According to Feminist interpretations of the archaeological record, cremation is the usual means of burial in Patriarchal religions, the rising smoke symbolizing the deceased's spirit ascending to the domain of the Father deities in the heavens, while Matriarchal religions are speculated to have favoured interment of the corpse, often in a fetal position, representing the return of the body to Mother Earth in the tomb which represents the uterus. Of modern Neo-Pagan religions, ÃÂsatrú favours cremation.
List of religions that permit cremation
ÃÂsatrú, Buddhism, Christianity (containing Baptist Church, Calvinism, Church of England, Church of Ireland, Church of Scotland, Church in Wales, Lutheranism, Methodism, Moravian Church, Roman Catholicism, Salvation Army, Scottish Episcopal Church), Christian Science, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) (permitted but discouraged), Hare Krishna (ISKCON), Hinduism (mandatory except for sanyasis, i.e., monks and children under five), Jainism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Liberal Judaism, Seventh-day Adventist Church, Sikhs, Society of Friends (Quakers), Unitarian Universalism
List of religions that forbid cremation
Presbyterianism, Eastern Orthodox Church, Iglesia ni Cristo, Islam, Orthodox Judaism, Zoroastrianism
* Neo-Confucianism under Zhu Xi strongly discourages cremation of one's parents' corpses as unfilial.
Other personal reasons
Some people find they prefer cremation for other reasons. For some people it is because they are not attracted to traditional burial. The thought of a long, slow decomposition process is unappealing to some, and they find that they prefer cremation for that reason.
Other people view cremation as a way of simplifying their funeral process. These people view a traditional burial as an unneeded complication of their funeral process, and thus chose cremation to make their services as simple as possible.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cremation
Main article: Cremation in the Christian World
In Christian countries, cremation fell out of favour due to the Christian belief in the physical resurrection of the body. Beginning in the Middle Ages, rationalists and classicists began to advocate it. In the Medieval Europe, cremation was practised only on special occasions, such as in situations where there were multitudes of corpses simultaneously present, such as after a battle, after a pestilence or famine, and there was an imminent danger of diseases spreading by the corpses.
The first to approve cremation were the Protestant churches, whose rationale was "God can resurrect a bowl of ashes just as conveniently as He can resurrect a bowl of dust". The development of modern crematoria also helped to make difference on the Pagan rite of burning the corpse on pyre. The first crematoria in the Protestant countries were built in 1870s.
For most of its history, the Roman Catholic Church had a ban in place against cremation, which was lifted in the 1960s. The church still officially prefers the traditional burial of the deceased. Cremation is now permitted as long as it is not done to express a refusal to believe in the resurrection of the body, and the church has become more open to the idea of cremation. [2] Until 1997, Church regulations stipulated that cremation was to take place after the funeral service has taken place. Permission of the Ordinary is still required to bring ashes into the church for the Mass of Christian Burial. The Church does specify requirements for the reverent disposition of ashes. This means that the ashes are to be buried or entombed in an appropriate container, such as an urn. The Church does not permit the scattering of ashes or keeping them at home.
Some branches of Christianity still oppose cremation. The Eastern Orthodox Church forbids cremation. Exceptions are made for circumstances where it may not be avoided (when civil authority demands it, or epidemics) or if it may be sought for good cause, but when a cremation is willfully chosen for no good cause by the one who is deceased, he or she is not permitted a funeral in the church and may also be permanently excluded from liturgical prayers for the departed. In Orthodoxy, cremation is a rejection of the dogma of the general resurrection, and as such is viewed harshly. Some of the more traditional members of the Catholic church have objected to the practice of allowing cremation.
Judaism
Judaism has traditionally disapproved of cremation, as it was the traditional means of disposing the dead in the neighbouring Bronze Age Pagan Semitic cultures, but also disapproved of preservation of the dead by means of embalming and mummifying, as the Egyptians did. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, as the Jewish cemeteries in many European towns had become crowded and were running out of space, cremation became an approved means of burial amongst the Liberal Jews.
The Orthodox Jews have maintained a stricter line on cremation, and disapprove of it as Halakha (Jewish law) forbids it, considering a soul of a cremated person will remain as a restless wanderer for eternity. Also, the memory of the Holocaust, where millions of Jews were murdered and their bodies disposed by burning them either in crematoria or burning pits, has given cremation extremely negative connotations in the minds of Orthodox Jews, who often view it as blasphemy.
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrians have traditionally prohibited cremation, on the grounds of the sacred nature of fire. They consider fire would become contaminated if it is used to dispose dead corpses. Instead they have left their dead on specific Towers of Silence, where birds of prey are allowed to devour their flesh; the bones are then entombed in the ossuary inside the tower. As modern hygiene regulations prohibit this means of body disposal in many countries, Zoroastrians either favour conventional burials, while some sects do allow cremation, though this is forbidden by the Gathas. The former Queen lead singer, Freddie Mercury, who was Zoroastrian, was cremated after his death. In addition, Rajiv Gandhi received a well-publicized cremation on a sandal wood pyre, and he too was Parsi (though maternally of Hindu descent).
Neopaganism
According to Feminist interpretations of the archaeological record, cremation is the usual means of burial in Patriarchal religions, the rising smoke symbolizing the deceased's spirit ascending to the domain of the Father deities in the heavens, while Matriarchal religions are speculated to have favoured interment of the corpse, often in a fetal position, representing the return of the body to Mother Earth in the tomb which represents the uterus. Of modern Neo-Pagan religions, ÃÂsatrú favours cremation.
List of religions that permit cremation
ÃÂsatrú, Buddhism, Christianity (containing Baptist Church, Calvinism, Church of England, Church of Ireland, Church of Scotland, Church in Wales, Lutheranism, Methodism, Moravian Church, Roman Catholicism, Salvation Army, Scottish Episcopal Church), Christian Science, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) (permitted but discouraged), Hare Krishna (ISKCON), Hinduism (mandatory except for sanyasis, i.e., monks and children under five), Jainism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Liberal Judaism, Seventh-day Adventist Church, Sikhs, Society of Friends (Quakers), Unitarian Universalism
List of religions that forbid cremation
Presbyterianism, Eastern Orthodox Church, Iglesia ni Cristo, Islam, Orthodox Judaism, Zoroastrianism
* Neo-Confucianism under Zhu Xi strongly discourages cremation of one's parents' corpses as unfilial.
Other personal reasons
Some people find they prefer cremation for other reasons. For some people it is because they are not attracted to traditional burial. The thought of a long, slow decomposition process is unappealing to some, and they find that they prefer cremation for that reason.
Other people view cremation as a way of simplifying their funeral process. These people view a traditional burial as an unneeded complication of their funeral process, and thus chose cremation to make their services as simple as possible.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cremation
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