CREMATION

Evening Star, Issue 22228, 4 January 1936, Page 16

CREMATION

VIEWS OF BRITISH BISHOPS ' Pharos/ the quarterly organ of the Cremation Society, contains in the last issue some replies from bishops to the question, “In your opinion is there anything in cremation’ offensive to Christian opinion or contrary to Christian doctrine?” Some of the answers given are printed below: — The Right Rev. A. A. David, D.D., Bishop of Liverpool, who addressed himself to one of the major issues, writes:—, “In this country the cremation movement is growing rapidly, in spite of prejudice against it which arises from a mistaken belief that in the resurrection the identical particles of the earthly body are reassembled and become the ‘ body that shall be.’ But a right understanding of St. Paul’s words (I. Cor. 15-37-38) shows that this is not his meaning. “ He declares that each shall find a body of his own; his identity shall not be lost, but as the flower differs from the seed, so shall the new body differ from the old. It is already agreed among the best educated Christians that the quickest, cleanest, and most seemly disposal of the dead is provided by cremation.” • The Bishop of Ely (the'Right Rev. ' Bernard F. O. Heywood, P.D.) : “ In my judgment, Christian people should have-no objection, on doctriqal grounds, to cremation; and on other grounds there is much to be said for it. Moreover, it is obvious that as time, goes on the arguments for cremation will be increasingly strong.” The Bishop of Rochester (the Right Rev. Martin Linton Smith, D.D.): “ I have never been able to see that there can be serious objection on religious grounds to the practice of cremation. It is quite true that the early church broke away from the common practice of cremation; but it has never seemed to me that the grounds on which this was done could outweigh the , great advantages of cremation in a thickly-populated country.” 1 The Bishop of Worcester (the Right Rev. Arthur W. T. Perowne, D.D.): “I have been forced by common sense to the opinion that cremation is the best method of disposing of the dead in our large cities. I: am quite aware that in the early Christian ages there was a very strong prejudice against such a method, , on the ground the Incarnation of our Lord had Sanctified' humanity in such a way that cremation seemed a desecration of that which He had hallowed. “The early Christian ’method and customs of. burial were so distinctively different from pagan ways that they constituted a real attraction in themselves to Christianity. But modern city life has introduced such changes as to make cremation at most: a necessity, and I cannot see that it. is really contrary to the Christian Faith properly understood.” The Bishop of Chester (the Right Rev. Geoffrey Francis Fisher, D.D.) : “ My . opinion is that the use of cre-‘ mation is in ho wise contrary to Christian doctrine, and should not be regarded as in any way offensive to Christian opinion. There is a natural prejudice in the minds of many people against a change in a matter in which sentiment of a true kind rightly plays so large a part. “ But for myself I earnestly hope that public opinion will be educated on this matter to accept increasingly the practice of cremation, which seems to me, under our modern conditions, to be from every point of view most desirable.-” The Bishop, of Birmingham (the Right Rev. E/W. Barnes, ScD., D.D., LL.D., F.R.S.); “In my opinion cremation is a mode of disposing of the dead to which no Christian can legitimately take excep- ( tion,” and the Bishops of Bradford, Salisbury; and St. Albans sent letters \ to the same' effect. The Very Rev. W. R. Inge, D.D., late Dean of St. Paulis, has_ observed: “I see no,religious objection to ere- . mation. Several of our ecclesiastics ’ have, recently been cremated instead of buried.”