In Theory: How faith factors into end-of-life services

More people are foregoing traditional burials in favor of cremation, and a major factor behind this trend is decreased religiosity, the Religion News Service’s Simon Davis reports.

This year, cremation is on track to surpass traditional burials for the first time, according to the funeral industry’s main trade group, the National Funeral Directors Assn.

The association, as well as other trade groups, partly attribute this trend to the rise of the so-called “religious nones,” as well as other prevailing factors, including cost and “the flexibility to have a memorial ceremony after some time has passed, with practically limitless options for venue.”

“With the notable exception of Eastern Orthodox churches, most Christian denominations no longer actively oppose cremation,” Davis reports. “Reform Judaism also permits it. Islam prohibits cremation but mandates burial without a casket. Buddhist and Hindu traditions have long encouraged cremation.”

Q. How do you view this trend? In your respective faiths, have you noticed a change in attitudes toward cremation? What other changes have you observed in end-of-life services in relation to religion?

This is one trend that I hadn’t thought to attribute to decreased religiosity. I’ve always assumed that the increase in cremations over burials was due to a gradual decrease of the “ick” factor regarding cremation; the increased convenience and flexibility it enables for burial rites; the cheaper costs and more elegant simplicity of cremation; and finally, increasing permissions for organ donation, which can necessitate cremation over burial of the remains.

That said, I’ve definitely seen a decrease in the number of requests for religious funerals. Absolutely, cremation allows families to do their own thing, taking mom’s or dad’s ashes up to the vacation place in the mountains and burying them at the foot of a favorite tree, with a view of the water, for instance, or scattering them at sea, law be damned, and bypassing the church funeral.

Other changes I’ve noticed have been an increased comfort level in burying the ashes directly in the ground, as opposed to in a container. Many couples and families wait for both parents to die and bury their ashes together, something not possible to do in a casket burial.

Another “new” possibility enabled by cremation is the family just keeping the ashes, either in one home or in different homes by turns. Holding onto the ashes hearkens back to a time when bones were kept in ossuaries in the family home or graves dug out back. Cremation allows the return of a centuries-old practice of keeping the remains of loved ones close at hand.

Personally, I think the Muslims have it. The best way of burial, in a brave and perfect and not-overpopulated world, would be the direct placement of the body in the ground, no casket; and burial physically done by family members, the whole thing.

Wanna see the perfect burial? Sometime, look up the series finale of “Six Feet Under.” Princess Diana’s service had nothing on this one — hands-down the most beautiful, loving burial I’ve ever seen.

The Rev. Amy Pringle
St. George’s Episcopal Church
La Cañada Flintridge

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One of the main reasons I became a Humanist Celebrant is to help people who desire an alternative or nonreligious celebration of life memorial. There are so many options for religious ceremonies but for the “nones,” it’s a challenge to create a memorial that is respectful of their beliefs.

I do think the world is trending secular, and that is reflected in the statement of the National Funeral Directors Assn. The rise in cremations is certainly due partly and maybe even mostly to the fact that more and more people are not religious.

The cost of burial, both in dollars and environmental impact is great. At some point, there will simply be no room to keep putting bodies in the ground. The fact is, it’s irresponsible to take up so much space when the living are in dire need of what little is left. As an alternative, cremation is a great option but, it still is rather costly, and the cremation process is not yet refined to the point of being completely Earth-friendly either. There are alternative “green” cremations and burials, and donating your remains to research or education is also a great selfless option.

I don’t believe in the afterlife. Scientifically and factually, when a person dies, they are gone. What remains is what they gave to others during their life. It is the memories and the residual feelings they passed on during their time in the world, hopefully all good. The idea of burial, memorial, visiting a cemetery or any tradition that exists after a person dies, is strictly for the sake of the living. And, it is perfectly valid and often necessary to have a ceremony to help people cope and deal with their feelings, but there really is no need anymore, outside of religious tradition, for putting a body 6 feet under.

For any reader who would like to explore nonreligious celebration of life options, I am happy to consult.

Joshua Lewis Berg
Humanist Celebrant
Glendale

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Personally, I have no problem with the idea of cremation. I am an organ donor, and when I die, I hope as many parts of me as possible can help other people — and then the rest I want cremated, with the ashes spread wherever my loved ones want to spread them.

The big thing with me is that I don’t want to take up space. Also, as a Christian, I believe this life is not the end, and that I will live again in whatever way God wants! And think about it: does anybody know where Socrates is buried? Does it matter? If you saw the movie, “Amadeus,” you know that Mozart was buried in some pauper’s grave, and does it really matter?

As far as what I have observed in my own religious tradition, I have conducted more memorial services than funerals. (In a memorial service, the body is not there; it has already been buried or cremated. In a funeral the body is there.) And what I think that means is that we as a society — religious or not — do not seem to be bound by the past, and I think that’s a good thing. More and more people want to have what they call “A Celebration of Life” and not some required mourning period — although at such a “celebration” mourning does occur and tears are usually shed, both of which are good things for human beings to do.

Personally, I think the move toward cremation and away from the traditional funeral — which involves embalming, putting chemicals into the body which will eventually leak into the earth — has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with a “green” appreciation of the planet.

I believe in evolution in all sorts of ways, and we as a people have “evolved” in our views about what to do with the lifeless body at the time of death. So good for us.

Here is, in a nutshell, what I believe, and it comes from the tombstone of a relative of a friend of mine, and that tombstone is in another country: “John Smith is not here. What is here is just a pod. John Smith is not here. John Smith is now with God.”

The Rev. Skip Lindeman
La Cañada Congregational Church
La Cañada Flintridge

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What is considered the proper way to bury a body obviously differs among various faiths and philosophies. Apparently in a culturewide perspective people are shifting away from religious practices that require a burial as opposed to cremation. I have not noticed a marked change in preference by the members of churches that I personally have pastored. As I understand the Bible, there is no preferred way to properly inter a body.

Here’s a biblical perspective on the topic. Starting with Adam and Eve on down God has given people bodies which are made of the natural materials of the Earth and are indwelt by a soul and a spirit that are created by him. A person’s body and his soul/spirit are two different things. When the body’s life functions cease the soul/spirit is detached from it, but it does not cease to exist. Multiple Bible passages support this. In Philippians 1:23 Paul didn’t fear the death of his body, but rather expressed “the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better.” When Jesus raised the synagogue official’s daughter Luke 8:55 says that “her spirit returned.” When the wicked rich man in Luke 16 died, and his body was buried, he afterward found himself in Hades experiencing the torment of God’s judgment. Stephen the martyr saw a vision of Jesus when his body was being stoned to death and cried out: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” (Acts 7:59).

Jesus has promised the bodily resurrection of all of his people, regardless of how or when their bodies ceased functioning. For countless numbers of these people no doubt little remains left of their natural bodies because of the effects of decay and the natural elements. But Jesus’ promise to resurrect them stands firm. Because of this, and because of the lack of specific instructions regarding the burial of bodies in Scripture, I believe we are free to choose our preferred manner of burial, including the option of cremation. What’s most important is the condition of our souls when our bodies fail us. Paul’s blessing is sure for all who are reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ the Savior: “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

Pastor Jon Barta
Burbank

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The conclusion of Christmas is really found in Easter. We celebrate both because Christmas marks God’s condescending into the world of man to save us by becoming us, and Easter is his act of redemption, when Christ bore the cross for our sins. Death was his born purpose. It’s said that “Jesus came to pay a debt he didn’t owe because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay,” and that because he alone is righteous. Yet even death couldn’t keep him. You can’t keep a good man down, and he alone was truly good because he is also truly God. So the hymn lyric proclaims, “up from the grave he arose,” and the resurrection of Christ is the evidential promise to all his Redeemed. In other words, he came out of the tomb, and we who follow him shall do likewise. It’s symbolized in baptism for those who immerse; down into water (symbolizing Christ’s death and burial) and up we’re brought (depicting Christ’s resurrection). Thus we proclaim our identity in him.

This belief in resurrection has also informed our traditions. We believe when Jesus returns, we’ll instantaneously reconstitute, reanimate, and resurrect; so what better expresses our mere repose until we are called to life, than to lie nicely boxed up and ready for the Second Coming? There’s where it gets superstitious. When a minister eulogizes, “ashes to ashes,” he means it. We decompose, and whether casketed, blanket- wrapped, or furnaced, we’re all “dust to dust.” Now, when God beckons our material bits, He’s going to recompose us, and that’s no difficulty for almighty God. He will reflesh bones and make bones of recycled calcium. God made everything that exists, and he’ll easily rejoin our heavenly souls with our refurbished, everlasting bodies. We don’t have to be interred whole, nor should we worry about our ashes being scattered throughout Disneyland’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” (I hear this is popular though frowned upon). Neither pagan “nones,” nor Christian ones, shall escape the resurrection, as all shall rise to face judgment and be carried to their respective final abodes. And whether our molecules are scattered throughout the Sierras or centrally located in Forest Lawn, they are known and numbered, and will most certainly be recovered. That’s “good news” to us who are the fruit of God’s divine redemptive plan, and he loves us too much to leave us as silt and disembodied spirits.

Rev. Bryan A. Griem
Tujunga