A Study of Cremation

The ways in which various religions approach the disposal of the human body after death vary quite significantly. Dimond (2004) explored this issue and commented that the two primary practices of the disposal and preparation of the body are burial and cremation. It is the purpose of this research study to first, review the literature on the topic of cremation, a form of body disposal within funeral rituals of many different religious groups that has gained wider acceptance worldwide except among members of the Jewish faith, who regard cremation as a forbidden practice (Fisher, 1999). Next, following the review of literature, a series of interviews will be described. The interviews were conducted by the researcher and were based on the interview sheet attached as Appendix A. Several different religious leaders participated, including a Jewish rabbi, a Roman Catholic priest, a Presbyterian minister, and a Hindu guru.

According to George (20020, the ancient world knew four methods of disposing of the bodies of the dead. The ancient Greeks and Romans preferred cremation and believed that the immortality of the soul was not endangered by the burning of a corpse. Hindus, who believe in reincarnation, have traditionally practiced cremation. At the other end of the spectrum were the Egyptians who mummified their dead to preserve the corpse indefinitely. As George (2002) states, the emergence

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s, prefer cremation over funerals. A recent survey by the Presbyterian Panel measured the attitudes of ministers and believers about death and dying. A total of 3,000 church members, elders, and ordained ministers in the American Presbyterian church participated in this study. The results of the study, reported in The Christian Century (Presbyterians prefer cremation�, 2004), included the following: 40 percent of members and 53 percent of the pastors want to be cremated among those preferring cremation, one-third of the pastors and members want their ashes scattered while 30 percent of the pastors and 25 percent of the members want their ashes buried, and 13 percent of both groups want their ashes placed in a memorial columbarium only one-third of all respondents wanted a traditional funeral with their body present some 80 percent of members and 92 percent of pastors believe in heaven whereas only 57 percent of members and 64 percent of the pastors believe in hell. The Reverend Billy Graham, an evangelical Protestant, noted that cremation "cannot prevent a sovereign God from calling forth the dead at the end of time" (George, 2002, p. 66). For the vast majority of Christians, the most vital question is not whether crem

Category: Science - A