VIEWS ON CREMATION THROUGH DIFFERENT FAITHS
Islam: No
“We believe that God gave us this body as a trust. We must take care of it before and after death. Since he put us in a full body on earth, we must return to God in a full body. We want to return to him in the best way possible.”
—Saad Mohammed, director of Islamic Information for the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City
Judaism: No “Traditional Judaism does not permit or encourage cremations, though in the modern world there are some who choose it anyway. According to traditional Jewish thought, the things that are not appropriate to do to a live body are also not appropriate to do to a dead body. For this reason, many traditional Jews also oppose autopsy, unless it is needed to solve a crime or to help cure a disease. ... There is one extra sensitivity with cremation, which is that so many Holocaust victims were cremated by the Nazis. Many Jews would say it is inappropriate to cremate because so many Jews were murdered and cremated against their will.”
—Rabbi Abby Jacobson, Emanuel Synagogue
Catholicism: Yes — with restrictions
While being cremated is allowed in the Catholic Church, the scattering of ashes is not the reverent way to dispose of the body. The cremated remains should be buried in a grave or entombed in a mausoleum or columbarium. The Church clearly prefers and urges that the body of the deceased be present for the funeral rites.
—From the office of the Rev. Paul S. Coakley, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City
Baptist: Yes
“We do not have any problem with cremation at all. You have scripture that says we are going to have glorified bodies in Heaven. We believe that the God of the universe is not going to have a problem with recreating a body, even if it was cremated. Even people who are buried in the ground decay.”
—Kevin Nicolin, pastor of support ministries at Henderson Hills Baptist Church
(Baptist churches are independent and some may express a different view.)
Methodist: Neither yes nor no
“The United Methodist Church does not espouse a formal position on the issue of cremation. Burial or cremation is a personal decision and either method should be conducted with dignity and respect. The power of God and the resurrection is not limited by either option.”
—Bishop Jimmy Nunn, Oklahoma Area of The United Methodist Church