The Industries of Christianity and Funerals are Declining Together




Since we all die, we all have an interest in the religion and culture that goes with death. The funeral industry reports that about half of deaths today are followed by cremation instead of the corpse display and funeral service. This is the result, they say, of fewer people going to church. 

Surely it must involve, as well, people comparing the price to the product. Embloming, moving the corpse from to place to another and staffing a ceremony are labor intensive and more expensive than alternatives. Why not merely buy what is needed and not anything more?

Both the funeral industry and clergy are right there ready to tell you what is needed. It is their services. They can quote you chapter and verse from the Bible explaining why you must go expensive. 

While driving once, I heard a retired funeral director explain the funeral industry's psychological explanation of why the embalmed body must be displayed. It is necessary, he said, so the loved ones can accept with the reality of the death. Display of the body, of course, is an expensive service and the embalmer profits from it. With about half deaths now being burned in cremation one would think there would be some national mental crisis. Have not heard there is.

If present trends continue, there will be no embalming in a generation or two. Church funerals and clergy also will be a relic of the past. 

One good aspect of all this will be less valuable land used up in cemeteries. In a large downtown area such as where I live it is stunning how much valuable and useful land is tied up forever in cemeteries. When I was a young professor I picked up a consulting job planning for coal gasification plants in Western ND. One of the issues to be addressed were a couple of small cemeteries that needed to be relocated. All relatives had to be notified. The cost of moving a cemetery back then was $10,000 per grave. 

The downside is a lot of history can be established by both names on tombstones and the style/material used in the grave stones. 

There seems no way to stop the cultural change of less religion and fewer funerals.

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