Pros And Cons Of Cremation

At some point in our lives, we all come to realize that death is a part of life. Cultural diversity provides a wide variety of lifestyles and traditions for each of the unique groups of people in our world. Within these different cultures, the rituals associated with death and burial can also be uniquely diverse. Many consider ritualistic traditions that differ from their own to be somewhat strange and often perceive them as unnatural. A prime example would be the burial rituals of the Native American people.

requires of you, and the outlook of this career in the future of the United

cremated. Although there is no direct ban against cremation, the Bible speaks clearly about “ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” Christian tradition states that God created man from dirt and so the body will return to the earth. The Bible states: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till

The temples, pyramids, tombs, and religious artifacts left behind all tell us that the Ancient Egyptians believed in the resurrection of the dead. Their belief in immortality was the fundamental driving force behind their religion. “The formulae which were declared to have been recited during the performance of ceremonies were written down and copied for scores of generations, and every pious, well-to-do Egyptian made arrangements that what had been done and said on behalf of Osiris should be done and said for him outside and inside his tomb after his death.” (Liturgy of Funeral Offerings, pg.2) This illustrates just how important the ceremony and the process was to the Egyptians. Their belief in the afterlife and the importance of the ceremonial steps taken to get them there caused them great concern with their own funerals. Today, everyone has an idea of what they would like to do for their own funeral as well. We may follow in the same patterns as our family heritage has done for generations with either a traditional funeral or cremation, or we may have a newer alternative in mind for our self. Even though we may not be preparing for an afterlife, we still have an

Cremation and burial services are among the most common choices for American post-mortem body disposal (NFDA, 2017). Though the population of the United States is continuing to grow, observing increases in funeral rates, the number of active funeral homes has significantly decreased within the past ten years (NFDA, 2017). This could be due to the extreme shift in American practices, from a traditionally religious population to a more environmentally aware and loosely religious society (Fleming, Farquhar, Brayne, Barclay, 2016; Pew Research Center, 2015). Because of the general shifts in the prioritization of traditional practice, funeral homes should be better equipped -especially in cremation services- to suit the needs of the evolving disposal preferences of all demographics through observation of holistic

Dead?" AlterNet. In this article, Frankie Colmane looks into how dead bodies are treated in the United State even after Mitford's expose of the funeral industry was published. The article takes both a philosophical and scientific issue with the procedure of embalming sighting proven negative effects to human beings and the environment. Colmane shows that even though people are aware of the malfeasance and misappropriations of the funeral industry following pieces like Mitford's, very little has changed. Therefore problems that have been discussed in earlier works should not be forgotten. Rather they should be continually brought up until the issue is solved. During the 1800s, embalming became common practice because the dead family member would lie in state within the home for a period of days or weeks until it would be buried (Colmane 2010). The article shows the duplicity such as when "funeral directors were arguing forcefully against charges that their mediation between the living and the dead translated into social obstruction that barred the stricken from facing death with maturity, realism, and honest" (page 2). This article will be used to illustrate that things have not changed with funereal practices despite the publication of Mitford's essay.

The idea of human composting is almost exactly the same. Composting works when bacteria release carbon dioxide and nutrients from organic materials that help plants thrive (Ashford n. pag.). These are the same plants that provide the oxygen we need to survive and the beauty of nature that people will travel thousands of miles to witness in some cases. Human composting is the most ecologically friendly way to dispose of bodies; cremation pollutes the air with gases and chemicals such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and hydrochloric acid while bodies that are buried can take more than fifty years to decompose (Huffman n.pag., Memorial Pages n.pag.). The earth does not get the nutrients it needs from burial until the casket and body break down, and even then it receives materials that could be utilized for something other than holding bodies: “Each year, over 30 million board feet of wood, 1.6 million tons of concrete, 750,000 gallons of embalming fluid, and 90,000 tons of steel are buried underground in the United States alone,” (Herzog n.pag.). Cremation and burial are neither environmentally friendly to the earth nor economically friendly to the family left

The body has to be disposed of in some way, and this is done either through burial or cremation. The power of substitutes is they provide a less expensive alternative.

In conclusion of The Embalming of Mr. Jones the author Jessica Mitford describes many gruesome ways that the mortician molest the body and process the body for reconstruction. I believe in some cases that many people now days want to be cremated and not buried. My grandmothers wanted to cremated because she wanted her ashes to be spread over the sea. My grandmother in her last days on earth said that burying her was going to be expensive, so that’s why she chose to be cremated she knew her family didn’t have thousands of dollars to pay for a nice burial. In my argument I feel that Jessica made a valid point when she described how gross the sight of the embalming was and I believe that she would be cremated when she dies. I know for a fact that I don’t want my love ones to pay all that money to

The question what parallels may Hingston be trying to draw between the trend in cremation and the way we “think about our bodies and ourselves” is a pretty loaded one. The quote, “the rise of cremation dovetails neatly with the increase in those of us who have no religious affiliation” (38) answers this question nicely. Without religion, and a sense of my body matters traveling through people’s heads, people are going to realize that there isn’t a point to being buried only to be

With today’s modern culture, death is a private event of mourning and grieving. We no longer as a community gather to celebrate the life of a late neighbor, instead this event is intended for family and close friends. We either bury our loved ones in a local cemetery or have their remains cremated and kept in an urn for viewing. The rituals performed by individuals in the event of a death have become superficial with a lack of meaning. The size of a headstone is only determined by how much money you have. The extravagance of the wake or any type of ceremony performed is determined by how much money you have. And for those who can’t even afford a burial and opt for cremation, the elegance of the urn used to hold the ashes of your loved one is once again determined by how much money you have. Death has become an event of profit, for if you truly love your departed relative you’ll buy the most expensive casket or the biggest

The demands for cremations is now at its peak especially when the Catholic Church permitted the cremation as a legitimate mode of disposing the dead body, and it was justified the existence of

In pursuing this further, there are several aspects to this topic; such as, preplanning, financial planning, cost, and the surviving family members. Funeral planning is something we all will have to do at one point in our lives, but where should we begin? It is a good idea to start with the preplanning of the funeral. Preplanning is crucial; it provides piece of mind, especially for surviving family. As said earlier, discussing one 's mortality is an extremely uncomfortable topic; however, by preplanning a funeral, it will relieve the family of having to make important decisions during a period of immense stress and grief. Furthermore, preplanning gives time to explore the options for a ceremony and allows time to discuss the financial aspects. It also gives a chance to choose a funeral home that best suit ones needs and budget.

Mankind’s history of burial practices and funeral customs are as old as civilization itself. There is no specific way to planning a funeral. Every civilization and culture has provided for their dead in different ways. Religion and personal beliefs play an important role in the burial practices and funeral customs of a given culture or civilization. Furthermore, each civilization and cultured ever studied have three things in common: some type of funeral rites, rituals, and ceremonies; A sacred place for the dead; and memorialization of the dead. As far back as the time of Christ, burials have been noted to take place. In time burial and funeral customs have become very distinct, interesting and

Today the society is looking for ways to ease life and to find solutions for problems which oppress our lives and make it hard to live through. Because of many reasons, the traditional burials in this century are becoming a problem. (Prothero,2001). The fact that they cover a lot of land to build cemeteries and other things that are attached to these traditional burials is enough for us to search for a practical solution. About a century ago the term "cremation" was unknown to many people. It is believed that it began to be practiced during the early Stone Age and still exists today. Since that time cremations have been made all