The mayor of a village in southwest France has threatened residents with severe punishment if they die, because there is no room left in the overcrowded cemetery to bury them.
In an ordinance posted in the council offices, Mayor Gerard Lalanne told the 260 residents of the village of Sarpourenx that “all persons not having a plot in the cemetery and wishing to be buried in Sarpourenx are forbidden from dying in the parish.”
It added: “Offenders will be severely punished.”
Uh, OK. Sounds like it will be tougher to die here than in Brazil.
People really need to move away from the practice of burials anyway. All it does is prevent future generations from enjoying any productive use from the land.
I seriously doubt any real punishment is going to occur. This is probably being done in protest the same way as that town in Brazil.
move away from the practice of burials
Nice idea… but too many religious edicts demand this. For example, Catholics. It has to do with the belief that during the end times, the dead will rise from the earth to be judged. Hence, bury the body.
Since France is very Catholic, not much chance of getting them to change their traditions easily.
This is dated. The reason the mayor did this was to get more money from the regional gouvernment. They funded him, and he lifted the ban on dying. What was at stake was if residents would be buried in the local plot or not. And btw France is secular state since around 1905.
There are no religious “edicts” for burial. Just because they ran out of space IN the cemetery, does NOT translate to us using ALL of the available land on the planet for burial someday. Also since when did we consider respectful burial of the dead a non productive use of land?
France is primarily Catholic, but they are also quite secular.
In Canada the percentage of cremations has risen from 36% in 1996 to 54% in 2004, and in my province of British Columbia it is now above 80%.
Just raise the price of burial plots by 500%; that will provide the incentive that the bereaved need in order to make them choose cremation (contrary to whatever grandma’s wishes were).
#3. I think you are referring to Jehovahs Witness.
Catholics do not believe that they will physically rise from the ground.
#5, “Also since when did we consider respectful burial of the dead a non productive use of land?”
Once somebody’s corpse is sitting in that section of ground, the space above it will not be used for anything useful to the people who are actually still alive and might benefit from it.
Insistence on being buried is the last selfish act of a dead person.
The punishment for dying was not stipulated. How bad could it be? I’d say, go for it.
#7… nope, not Jehovah’s Witnesses either… maybe no religion believes this
#8, SL,
Good comment.
#9, Dallas,
I’m just dying waiting to hear what would happen.
not sure why anyone wants to be buried anyway…in a few hundred years were going to have to start digging up people and cremating them anyway because of space. That or start making cemeteries like landfills where we build layer after layer…
#7: I was taught as a Catholic that yes, the bodies of the departed will rise on the last day from the earth to be reunited with their souls for the Final Judgment before God. Curiously, however, cremation is allowed, because the ashes must be buried. No mantel urns.
#13. Sorry, it must have been a different Catholic Church and school system that I attended in the first 18 years of my life. I have NEVER heard that one. And cremation wasn’t allowed, until recently.
But it doesn’t surprise me as different factions believed different dogma. I was old school, (pre Vatcan II) till I was able to think for myself.
Well, how is the punishment going to be executed 🙂