Benefits of Cremation

Often times, when people choose a traditional funeral they choose to have their loved one buried as well. In contrast, cremation is more associated with memorial services and celebrations of life. A traditional funeral involves many more components such as a wake, gathering pallbearers, organizing a mass with a church, coordinating the burial with the cemetery, and much more. Memorial service and celebrations of life can be much simpler if you choose them to be. Since these ceremonies are more based on what you want and are less about common rituals, you can choose just how complicated and sophisticated the ceremonies are.

Cremation is considered to be more environmentally friendly than burial. Often the deceased is embalmed using harsh chemicals for a wake before he/she is buried. People have been critical that these chemicals can seep through a casket and create water and soil pollution. Secondly, burial plots take up land space and disturbs the Earth to inter a casket. Crematories do release carbon emissions into the air, but new technology is really starting to reduce the amount and impact.

Plots at cemeteries are becoming more and more scarce. The cemetery you wish to be buried may not have plots available when you pass. Also, since the supply of burial plots shrinks the cost of them has been on the rise. Cremation allows you to avoid the trouble of finding a plot.

Many people are starting to move away from tradition due to religions having a more relaxed stance on cremation. Catholics believe that the soul is immortal and does not depend on the physical body. Since cremation of the deceased's remains do not affect his or her soul, according to the Church, there are no doctrinal objections to the practice (Bryner, 2016). The less strict beliefs of the Catholic church are becoming another reason that people are choosing cremation rather than burial.