Embalming? Tattoos? Piercings? What is your view? Funeral rights?

Question

I work for a funeral parlor so we embalm most people. Some religions view some of these things wrong and won't allow them to be buried in certain cemeteries. Most catholics are preserved but the pope is against it. What does your religion believe?And which religion is it?

Answer 1

Buddhist.
It doesn't matter how the body is disposed of but in most Buddhist countries cremation is the norm. Burial, embalming, keeping the preserved body in the living room, public display a la Lenin are all OK and nothing is sanctioned specifically by religion.
Most Buddhist countries are hot and dead people do not smell very well after a short period at 35 Celsius. Also many Buddhist countries are prone to seasonal flooding and late uncle Sam floating down the High Street has been found to be an unwanted reminder of the dead so cremation is simply an easy and quick way to get rid of something which is no longer in use and starting to smell.

Answer 2

I am a member of an earth-based pagan religion best described as Celtic. I believe that being embalmed is horrible as it poisons my body which is meant to decay and return the nutrients to the earth. We generally are cremated, before the embalming laws etc, it would have been a funeral pyre, but that is illegal now. When I die, I would like every usable bit harvested (organs etc for implantation and study) and anything left, I would like to be cremated. I would like my ashes returned to the earth in whatever manner my family finds comfort in. As for tattoos, piercings etc, they have been a part of my religion since the Bronze Age and I have a couple of tattoos and my ears are pierced. Some piercings are really cool but I am lazy and don't want to have to clean them or worry about my little ones yanking on them. As for tattoos, everytime I want to get a new one, I find out that I am pregnant so I think I will need to wait for awhile.
Our funeral rights are a celebration of the deceased's contribution to our community and a request that the deceased's spirit give us guidance, wisdom and sometimes a little luck. Some of us believe that there is a part of the spirit that remains on earth and some of us think that that part is the memories we have.

Answer 3

I have quite a few tats. If that's a sin I'm in trouble. Done the piercing thing, grossed me out, frankly.
Would rather be cremated because I know what you do for a living and it ain't pretty (My ex-husband was supervisor for county OME). Plus, the way growth is happening, the city's gonna dig me up and move me or put a building over the top of me. Eeeew. That just bugs.

I have no religious compunctions about burial or what have you. I suppose what's best is whatever makes the individual feel better.

Good question, btw!

Answer 4

Not to mention circumcision. A lot of Christians resort to that ONE verse in Leviticus (which a silly book in which NO ONE follows). If they're going to quote that verse then they should quote and follow all the others, which include not mixing fabrics, not eating anything without fins in the water, etc. Anyone else will say "your body is the temple of God" yet they have no problem with that Big Mac and large fries. The ones that spout all that are hypocrites so they aren't worth listening to. I do know, however, a lot of Christians that don't mind tattoos and even have some of their own. The old generation thinking is (thankfully) dying out. @I Belong to God - if the Bible says believers will have a new body on a new earth even, then why would one worry about tattoos? @the great one - I have to point out your blatant ignorance. If you truly believe that verse in Leviticus and think because it says it you have to follow it then you also need to follow the rest of what Leviticus says, which I assure you, you don't.

Answer 5

Where does tottoos and piercings fit into embaling and death?
I am for the first two, and a little against the second two.
When I die I want my family to lay me in the sun for 7 days and 7 nights, then torch my body.
I say the 7&7 b/c I don't want to wake up being embaled by you, or wake up being burned to my death a second time! It's a personal phobia!

Answer 6

I like the idea of cremation. It's cleaner and more natural.

What is it like working in a funeral parlor? I'm 20 and I've never even seen a dead body. Do you get numb to the idea of death? How did you get in the business in the first place? Sorry, just curious :)

Answer 7

I am a Celtic Pagan, and if the world was all as such you would not have a job.

in ancient times we were buried in giant mounds with many of us together and with al the things that we would need in the faterlife.

today i prefer cremation. simply because i look at modern archeologist's and their practice of looking for gravesites to dig up and exploit. when a society burries a person under tonnes of rock and dirt, they were not playing hide and seek. they were meant to stay there.

i prefer cremation because i do not want my body to become a plaything for a scientist 2000 years from now. not that my spirit will care, i view it as very disrespectful and i can deny them that.

Answer 8

I personally don't believe that EVERY person should have an autopsy, UNLESS there is questionable circumstances of death.

I believe also that the prices of funerals are astronomical for the services that are given.
The Retail cost of a casket today is criminal.

My favorite Funeral ritual - Tapestries/ embroideries made with the deceased persons hair.

Answer 9

A mason does not like to be embalmed so in resurrection day he's complete. tattoos are bad to us born again christians bec. its vs.the bible. piercing is fine except nose.

Answer 10

I'm a Catholic and have never heard of a Pope (other than one that was personally against it for HIMSELF) against preservation; of which I believe you mean embalming...correct? Who ever told you that Catholics or the Pope is against it needs to read up a bit more please.