Religion: Death and Body Disposal

Death is an inevitable part of human life. For many, it is feared. Throughout history, religion has attempted to explain death and speculate on what happens afterward, so it is less frightening. After death has occurred, the body must be disposed of. Because of the various explanations for the afterlife and the sacredness of a human body after death, different methods of disposal are used in different religious traditions.

The most common form of corpse disposal, in Western religions, is burial, usually in a cemetery. Burial is used by the major Abrahmic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

This practice of burial is based on examples from the Torah, such as a passage, “And [God] buried him (Moses) in the depression in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor.” Moses was buried by God, and the high status of Moses makes this way of disposal desirable. Christianity and Islam carried on this custom from Judaism, with some changes.


In Christianity, as with Judaism, the bodies are put in caskets to be placed in the ground. Grave markers for Christianity reflect the importance of the resurrection of Christ to their faith, as see on the one to the right. This is also part of the use of caskets. Most Christians believe in Judgment Day, when the God-devoted will be rewarded and the sinners punished. One aspect of this is the resurrection of the dead, therefore the bodies are still important after death.The Islamic dead are buried, but not in caskets. The body goes through a cleansing and ritual process, is covered by a shroud, and placed in the ground.

Although Muslims also believe in a form of the Last Judgment, they also discourage elaborate displays. Grave markers, if any, should be simple and not ornate. Islam teaches submission to God and excessive use of money on lavish items, such as a casket or expensive grave marker, is looked down upon. That encourages pleasure in earthly materials instead of devotion to God. Giving to the poor is also a major part of Islam, and wasting money with caskets and markers for the dead, who are gone from this earth, causes less to go to the poor.

In most Eastern religions, the body does not hold the same sacredness as in the Abrahmic religions. Saṃsāra, a concept in Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism, is the cycle of reincarnation (portrayed by a wheel in Buddhism, see above). Because of this cycle, each human body is not very important; after death, the soul of the person is gone and it is just an empty shell. All of these religions use cremation as the most common method of corpse disposal.

Sikhs usually throw the ashes over a river. This comes from the story of the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, depicted below. Guru Nanak would meditate down by the river everyday. One day, though he disappeared, and when he reappeared 3 days later, he was filled with the spirit of God and began to spread the word of Sikhism. Throwing the ashes over a river, therefore, associates them with Guru Nanak and the significance of the river in the founding of their religion.



Buddhists usually cremate as well, but there are exceptions. In the mountainous country of Tibet, wood is scarce and the ground is hard. Neither cremation or burial are plausible. The people of Tibet perform sky burials instead. They cut the corpse in certain locations and place it on a mountaintop, to be eaten by animals, especially vultures. A main concept of Buddhism is generosity and kindness to all living things. Because the body is no longer occupied, giving it up as food for other living beings is a final act of kindness for the person’s body.


Another type of disposal was performed by Zoroastrians, before the 20th century. They believed that after death, the body was contaminated by a demon that rushed in. In order for it not to spread this contaminant to the earth or fire by burial or cremation, they built “Towers of Silence,” buildings with a flat roof to place the bodies on. They would leave the bodies there until the bones were bleached, which would then be taken to disintegrate and wash out to the sea. The Zoroastrians do not believe in reincarnation, until the final renovation of the world, and do not believe in any significance of the body after death. The dead body only begins to decay and therefore must be gotten rid of to keep everything else from being polluted.

The Baha'i House of Worship for the North American Continent

I live in Chicago, and I remember that my family and I went to visit the Baha'i Temple one day, probably 4 to 5 years ago at least. At that time, I didn't know anything about what the Baha'i Faith was. I think I remember asking my dad about it, since we were going to see it, but I don't remember his answer, or what he knew about it. My parents just wanted to go and show it to my sister and I because of the architecture and gardens surrounding it and because they thought it was beautiful. And it is. When we got there, I didn't care what the building was for, I just found it amazing. All the details and intricate patterns of the building, and the gardens. I don't remember much specific about it, but I do know that I walked around the outside of the building, just looking at everything, fascinated by the building.

I would like to go back, now that I know about the faith. We also didn't go inside when I was there, and the pictures of the inside look equally as beautiful. Something that I think I noticed while there, but understand more now are the details on the exterior, showing symbols from other religions. Something I wonder now is, what do other religions think about this? Have any objected to the use of their symbols?

Some of the Baha'i rules seem odd. They have these symbols from other religions on their temple itself. Yet, they only used donations from Baha'is to fund the construction of it. They sometimes include everyone, sometimes exclude people. I could see accepting funds from people outside the religion being beneficial to their cause. The temple built by everyone, not just those who have accepted the faith. But then again, their purpose is kind of to get others to accept their way, so I would assume they must exclude outsiders at times. I guess not accepting outsider donations is a way of separating themselves and showing that they do believe in certain things and interpretations.

Founders of Religions

From reading about the Rastafari and Baha'i faiths, I started wondering about the founders, leaders, and prominent people of the religions. I thought it was interesting that Haile Selassie was believed to be God incarnated by the Rastas, and he was alive during this time, but not much is available about what he says or believes. It's like he's revered from a distance and isn't really a part of the religion himself.

Baha'u'llah, on the other hand, started off following another man and his beliefs and ended up becoming a leader, and then proclaiming himself as "He Whom God shall make manifest." In this biography, we got to see his life and writings and how the Baha'i faith came about.

What makes these interesting to me is that they are so recent. Although I am not religious, pretty much the only exposure I've had during most of my life has been to Christianity. All the prophets and prominent people of that religion lived so long ago. Part of the reason I had trouble believing all of it was because I didn't see any prove. How could you prove something that happened so long ago? That's not to say that I believe all the claims of the more recent religions, but it's something more new to me, that interests me.

I enjoyed reading about Baha'u'llah because I got a sense of the kind of person that founds a religion. Even though some of it is a little hard to believe, you still see parts of his personality. I still would like to get inside his head more though, see his motivations for his actions. Did he truly believe the whole time that he was this messianic figure? Did he have doubts about himself and his cause when people were getting killed and his family was turning against him? Of course, knowing this would probably make him less of a religious figure because of the flawed human qualities it would show. But it's something I've always been curious about.

Baha'u'llah and the Baha'i Faith

The process of founding a new religion, in this case the Baha'i faith, doesn't happen overnight. There seems to be a lot of elements that go into it. The two things that stood out to me the most were the eloquent, charismatic leader, and the hardships and oppression of a group of people.

Baha'u'llah didn't start out thinking he was going to found a new religion (at least I don't think so). He started out following the Babi Faith and the words of Sayyid 'Ali Muhammad. Through the years, these followers were hated and feared, and treated badly. Baha'u'llah was imprisoned, put into a dark pit for a while, exiled, and went through many rough times, along with those who followed him as a leader of Babis. Because of the nature of Baha'u'llah, he gained the respect and reverence of many people. He became a comfort in trying times, always strong in his convictions. His generosity captured people's attention and respect. His ability to stay calm, to be unfazed in the face of death, torture, and opposition amazed people. During the time when the Kurds tried to assassinate him, he didn't flinch or try to protect himself, but instead told a story, which touched some of the Kurds so much they "bowed low before Baha'u'llah and left (p 48)." Even though they were there to kill him. During another attempt by the Kurds to assassinate him, Baha'u'llah "sat down and spoke to them in such a way that they left amazed at the way their enmity and anger had been transformed into affection and acquiescence (p 53)." The founder of a religion must have this power of people in order to win them over. This coupled with the hardship and oppression of the Babis lead to them eager and willing to follow him.

The faith also gained prominence as rituals began emerging. "Within the Babi community there had been signs that affairs were about to enter a new phase...it had been the custom of the Babis to gather together in the evenings and chant their holy writings...Baha'u'llah began to give the Babis tablets of his own...to recite every evening (p 59)." Baha'u'llah was becoming a main part of the ceremony of the Babis, someone they listened to regularly. They held rituals around his words, making him the center of their faith.

The declaration of Baha'u'llah's mission made the Baha'i religion really begin. After he had built up his reputation, his respect, and his importance in this community of people, all that they were waiting for was this public declaration. His prestige in the community, which came from his charisma in the face of the hardships, had convinced pretty much everyone of his station already, he just needed to come and claim it. The rest of the work was set up by the many years and events prior.

Similarities of Music and Religion

So in our class discussions, we've been talking some about how religion gets borrowed and interpreted and changed through you picks it up. I've never really thought about it this way, I used to not like that religion's would borrow aspects because I thought that it was almost like lying. A religion's trying to say that they're right about their faith, but then what they base their religion on is parts of other religions and I thought that was kinda cheap. But from this class and talking about it, I see religion differently, not looking at just the faith side, but the social side and how it's used.

Because of this, and looking at the Rastarian faith, I noticed how music is similar to religion. In my last free post, I also write about music and religion, so I figured I'd go on about that. Music is also similar to religion in the way it evolves. We talked about people borrowing stories or ideas and making them their own in religion. This also happens in music, which was talked about a bit in the Rastafari book. People build on previous music genres, change it to fit their lives or positions or whatever, and create something new. I think it's interesting to find parallels between music genres and see how something might have been adapted from something else. And I've always considered that a good thing, a sharing and borrowing of ideas that creates something new. Rastas are a great example because that religion did both of these things; borrowed and changed religious aspects and created a new musical form based on others.

I tried to find a video to illustrate this and this was the best I found, plus it includes Bob Marley.

The Bobo Shanti

The first thing I noticed about this group of Rastafarians was their clothes. They have uniform men and women outfits, quite unlike Bob Marley and kind, who wear many different types of clothing. I noticed the backup singers for Bob Marley wore traditional African clothing, while he seems to usually wear casual, more Western style clothing, which thinking about it, seems a little odd. But the Bobo Shanti's clothing was more Christianized. The women wore nun-like outfits, and the men, long-sleeves and cloaks. The colors are specific to the Rastas, but the style is more Christian. This is very different from the Bob Marley kind of Rasta, who either employ African traditional dress or Westernized clothing.

In the beginning of the narration, it's revealed that the Bobo Shanti are "preparing for the moment to finally cross the Atlantic." As we talked about, Marley's take on the journey to Ethiopia/Africa is more spiritual, a mental state, instead of actually going there. However, these Rastafarians apparently still believe that that is what they should do. It's also said they are the most traditional, which is reflected in this. They haven't changed with the times. In Chapter 5 of Edmonds' book Rastafari, he explains how the Jamacian government started working with the Rastas and sent missions to African countries to see if they would take Rastafarians. But they weren't really wanted there. So after this, probably, is when the view started changing from a physical 'exodus' to a mental one.

The Bobo Shanti seem very isolated. More well-known Rastafarians live in Jamaican society and openly reject Western ideals and are active in speaking out with music. These Rastas however, seem to keep to themselves, at least from this video. They have their own views, but do not preach them using song or anything else. One of the women who speak though, says that they are scattered, so perhaps there are other Bobo Shanti who are more integrated into society.

There is a greater emphasis on the teachings of the Bible as well. I didn't notice much mention of the Bible in Bob Marley style Rastafari. There's influence from it of course, but no direct passages quoted, or specifics to the Bible itself, just the ideas within it.

The ceremony is also a big difference. Bob Marley style Rastas seem to do the go-with-the-flow kinda thing. The Bobo Shanti have more organized religion type aspects, with the rituals and praying and community activities. Overall, the Bobo Shanti are more Christianized, organized, and traditional than the Rastafarians like Bob Marley and those he reaches through his music.

And just as a last thought, did anyone else notice the part about the signs? There's a sign that says 'equality and justice for all people" and then the next sign is "black [over] white" as the narrator says "goodness over evil." I haven't noticed much dehumanizing of whites by Rastafarians, more rejection of white ideals as black ideals and the colonial rule, but this seems a little contradictory. I don't know if it was purposefully narrated that way, seeing whites as evil, but I would think that equality and justice for all would mean that blacks and whites were equal...

Uniting Music

Starting to talk about the Rastafari movement got me thinking about music in religion. I think that many people think of Bob Marley and reggae music when Rastafari is mentioned. There is so much connection to religion and music, and we've talked about it some with the psalms. I think part of the reason music is so important in religion (some more than others) is its ability to bring people together. Bob Marley and reggae is a perfect example. Maybe music became so important because there is no real central organization to Rastas. Community is a huge part of religion and music helps create community so music and religion go together. I like the music aspect of religion because of the fact that it brings people together. There are things about religion that tear people apart, that create conflict, that turn people against each other and kill each other. But music, especially if you listen to some of Bob Marley's songs, promote love and harmony. It promotes human rights and taking a place in the world, but not through conflict and war. It is also something that I think everyone can enjoy. I am not a Rastafarian, I don't even believe in God, but I still enjoy music written about or inspired by God and religion.