Asking the Clergy: How does your faith view human composting?

New York State recently legalized the composting of human remains as an option in addition to burial or cremation. This week’s clergy discuss how the environmental value of the process, also known as natural organic reduction, comports with their long-standing religious traditions.

Nitin Ajmera of Plainview

Chair, board of trustees, Parliament of the World’s Religions

Jains believe that enlightenment is achieved through nonviolence and reducing harm to all living things as much as possible. Jain principles also state that the body and soul are inherently different from each other. When the soul leaves the body after death, the mortal remains have no value. Our process is to quickly dispose of the remains, as they are home for various potentially disease-causing microbes. The body has no way to fight this multiplication of microorganisms.

Thus, Jains believe in immediate cremation, as it causes the least amount of microbe growth, which is stopped within hours of death. These germs if left alive can pollute the earth, water and atmosphere.

Human composting — also known as natural organic reduction — is the practice of placing a body in a reusable vessel with biodegradable materials that foster the transformation into nutrient-dense soil that can be returned to land. Because it is a natural process, Jain philosophy is not in opposition to human composting.

Rabbi Jack Dermer

Temple Beth Torah, Westbury

The corpus of Jewish law is extensive with regard to preparations for death, burial and mourning. Proper and respectful care during the sensitive moments at the end of life are paramount. From the point of view of this Conservative rabbi, a Jewish person is to be buried in a humble pine coffin. Our tradition likens the human body to a reflection of the divine image, and as such, desecration or cremation of that form is considered to be an affront to G-d. Use of a body for a benefit or additional purpose after death is also considered inappropriate, unless one's organs are directly donated to save another's life.

Now that the composting of human remains has become a legal option, is it permitted? Environmentally friendly as human composting may be, many rabbis would likely join me in considering the practice improper, since it may result in the mingling of bodily remains at any stage of the composting process and, ultimately, is an action through which benefit is derived from the body in the form of enriched soil. Legal in New York or not, this new practice remains a far cry from how Jews have honored our loved ones in death for thousands of years.

The Rev. Marjorie Nunes

Senior pastor, The Hicksville United Methodist Church 

When I officiate at a burial, I say these words from our worship book: “This body we commit to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” Now that New York State is allowing human composting, Christians should discuss openly what happens to our physical remains.

Human composting decomposes human remains, much like a crematorium. But instead of using fire to convert the body to ashes, biological processes convert human remains into soil. This gives me pause because on one of my visits to the cemetery I noticed an elderly man kneeling at a grave site, quietly crying and speaking to his beloved wife, who was buried there. When he finished, he got up, wiped his face and said, “I will see you next week, my love.” He looked at peace at that moment. For this man, the connection was to his wife — not soil!

The Bible neither favors nor forbids cremation, and I have never seen anything in Holy Scripture about human composting. Nevertheless, many Christians believe that their bodies would be ineligible for resurrection if they are cremated. Although I believe burials are more about the living than the dead, let’s not rush into human composting!