Cremation for troops?

[bean52]

Here's a list of religions and their position on cremation:

Christianity:
Protestant -- permitted
Catholic -- ban lifted 1963
Judaism:
Reform -- Used by some
Reconstuctionist -- forbidden
Conservative -- forbidden
Orthodox -- forbidden
Islam -- forbidden
Hinduism -- permitted
Buddhism -- permitted


Why do western religions (Christianity, Judaism, etc.) bury their dead?


Text

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: bean52
Here's a list of religions and their position on cremation:

Christianity:
Protestant -- permitted
Catholic -- ban lifted 1963
Judaism:
Reform -- Used by some
Reconstuctionist -- forbidden
Conservative -- forbidden
Orthodox -- forbidden
Islam -- forbidden
Hinduism -- permitted
Buddhism -- permitted


Why do western religions (Christianity, Judaism, etc.) bury their dead?


Text

Worms gotta eat too!

 

[bean52]

Do the bodies in the coffins decay or are they preserved? After a certain amount of time, if you opened one up would you find a skeleton in a suit/dress?

 

[Rudee]

Agnostic - Whatever you want to do to me when I'm dead is fine by me. Burn me and put my ashes in a Etch-A-Sketch if you desire. Have fun. 😉

 

[McPhreak]

Originally posted by: bean52
Do the bodies in the coffins decay or are they preserved? After a certain amount of time, if you opened one up would you find a skeleton in a suit/dress?

Bodies in coffins are preserved for quite some time. I've seen pics of people exhumed from coffins a couple decades after they've been buried (you'll see this a lot for criminal investigations) and they are pretty well intact.

 

[43st]

It would be a great way to hide evidence. An army can kill any number of "enemy combatants" and simply burn them. The US certainly wouldn't bow to any investigation from the ICC so it might be a bit redundant to make this rule. Better safe than sorry I guess.

 

[brtspears2]

It sure brings up a hard discussion, bring home the bodies for final resting and honor, or risk spreading of more disease bringing it back home.

 

[Bignate603]

Originally posted by: McPhreak

Originally posted by: bean52
Do the bodies in the coffins decay or are they preserved? After a certain amount of time, if you opened one up would you find a skeleton in a suit/dress?

Bodies in coffins are preserved for quite some time. I've seen pics of people exhumed from coffins a couple decades after they've been buried (you'll see this a lot for criminal investigations) and they are pretty well intact.

EEEEWwwww... stinky...

I don't know why, possibly tradition.

Here's one thing I've wondered. There are many many different religions in our armed forces, how do they deal with pastors and such. There are some religions that believe in last rites, and such. Are the pastors basiclly "generic" and will preform any service asked of them? I know from my father that the actual pastors were of many different faiths themselves but he never went in to how this actually affected what they did.

 

[dabuddha]

Originally posted by: Bignate603

Originally posted by: McPhreak

Originally posted by: bean52
Do the bodies in the coffins decay or are they preserved? After a certain amount of time, if you opened one up would you find a skeleton in a suit/dress?

Bodies in coffins are preserved for quite some time. I've seen pics of people exhumed from coffins a couple decades after they've been buried (you'll see this a lot for criminal investigations) and they are pretty well intact.

EEEEWwwww... stinky...

I don't know why, possibly tradition.

Here's one thing I've wondered. There are many many different religions in our armed forces, how do they deal with pastors and such. There are some religions that believe in last rites, and such. Are the pastors basiclly "generic" and will preform any service asked of them? I know from my father that the actual pastors were of many different faiths themselves but he never went in to how this actually affected what they did.

the neat thing is America is one of the few countries in the world faced with this "situation" 🙂