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Legal Cremation in Greece

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  • Legal Cremation in Greece

    Greek human rights group wants cremation legalised
    23 Jan 2006

    Reuters News

    (c) 2006 Reuters Limited
    ATHENS, Jan 23 (Reuters) - A Greek human rights watchdog on Monday urged the government to legalise cremation as soon as possible despite long-standing opposition by the powerful Orthodox church.

    In a country where 95 percent of the population is Orthodox, the families of deceased citizens who do not wish to be buried spend thousands of euros to transport loved ones to neighbouring Bulgaria for cremation and then return with their ashes.

    Demand for the option of cremation has risen in recent years as overcrowded cemeteries force bereaved relatives to exhume their loved ones, sometimes only partly decomposed, after three years to make way for the next coffin.

    The remains of those exhumed are then either stored in boxes or dumped in an unmarked communal grave.

    "The ban on cremation is violating human rights on several levels," said Aliki Marangopoulou, president of the National Committee for Human Rights. "It's every person's right to decide the fate of their body after death. That is a basic right."

    Marangopoulou, whose independent committee regularly issues advisories and proposals to the government and has repeatedly called on it to pass a law allowing cremation, said the time had finally come for such a move.

    "You have to strike while the iron is hot and conditions at the moment are good for the government to show there is progress on the separation of state and church on some level," she said.

    The Orthodox Church has been marred by a series of on-going bribery, extortion and sex scandals and opinion polls show support for the influential institution has steadily dwindled over the past year.

    "The Church is currently involved in its own problems and that is why it is a good time to push this issue through," Marangopoulou said. "I predict that it will happen soon."

    A source at the Education and Religion Ministry said the government was not opposed to such a move.

    "It has not been officially put to us recently but if it were, we would not be negative, especially where it would concern the needs of non-Orthodox people," a ministry source told Reuters.

    The Greek Orthodox Church could not be reached for a comment. It opposes cremation since it says the body is a creation of God which cannot be burnt.
    I had no idea that cremation would be illegal. The idea of digging up a body to make room for another is rather gross. I would like to be cremated when I die. Mostly because since I am not going to need much of me afterwards, I would like science and medicine to take as much as they can and use it for some kind of good. No sense burying leftovers, huh? :)
    "To dream of the person you would like to be is to waste the person you are."-Sholem Asch

    "I always turn to the sports page first, which records people's accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man's failures."-Earl Warren

    "I didn't intend for this to take on a political tone. I'm just here for the drugs."-Nancy Reagan, when asked a political question at a "Just Say No" rally

    "He no play-a da game, he no make-a da rules."-Earl Butz, on the Pope's attitude toward birth control

  • #2
    The Orthodox church has never changed its policy on this and I see no reason why they should.

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    • #3
      Originally posted by EricTheRed
      The Orthodox church has never changed its policy on this and I see no reason why they should.
      Because eventually there is going to be no room left to bury people. Then what? How about if they buried them and then when they dig them up a few years later to make room for the newbies, they cremate the remains at that time.
      "To dream of the person you would like to be is to waste the person you are."-Sholem Asch

      "I always turn to the sports page first, which records people's accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man's failures."-Earl Warren

      "I didn't intend for this to take on a political tone. I'm just here for the drugs."-Nancy Reagan, when asked a political question at a "Just Say No" rally

      "He no play-a da game, he no make-a da rules."-Earl Butz, on the Pope's attitude toward birth control

      Comment


      • #4
        They could always bury them outside the country. Russia has plenty of room ;)

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