Recycling and waste

Current arguments under this heading revive in my mind the idea that one point of common ground for Christians and atheists should be indifference to the fate of our earthly bodies. If you don't believe in the hereafter, what does it matter what happens? And if you do, we may be sure that a loving God isn't going to resurrect the dilapidated remnants that are all we have left at the end: as St Paul reminds us
(1 Corinthians 15: 51), we shall all be changed - still recognisably ourselves as we were 'in the body', but transformed.

For myself, I should like every particle of my corpse to be used for research purposes; and if there's anything left over, then it should as soon as possible be packed in an old cornflakes packet or cardboard box, incinerated, and used for compost - a 'ceremony' to be attended by the minimum of close intimates, probably excluding even siblings and grandchildren.

Then about three months' later, when the first shock is over and there's been time to plan, by all means have a great party, to remember affectionately the quirks and oddities and possibly the accomplishments of the departed, to offer prayers of thanksgiving, and to sing lustily some favourite hymns. If deserved, we could even consider a memorial – but it should be put somewhere relevant, where the person is truly remembered, not on a gravestone over the bit of earth where the last remains just happened to have been dumped.

Hubert Allen
Old Marston, Oxfordshire