Why having human remains land on the Moon poses difficult questions for members of several religions
Buu Nygren, president of the Navajo Nation, objected, saying that 'the moon holds a sacred place' in Navajo and other tribal traditions and should not be defiled in this way. The inside of the lander was to be a kind of 'space burial' for remains of some 70 people. Each of the families had paid over US$12,000 for a permanent memorial on the Moon. As professors of religious studies who have taught courses on death rites, we know that death rituals in the world's religions have been shaped by millennia of tradition and practice. While these ashes didn't make it to the Moon because of a propellant leak, their presence on the lander raised some important religious issues: Beliefs about the polluting nature of the corpse, the acceptability of cremation and the sacredness of the Moon vary across traditions. In ancient Judaism, certain activities were believed to be polluting, rendering a person unfit to participate in prayers and animal sacrifices offered exclusively at the Temple in...
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