American Outdoor Cremation

[Arjunī]

Namasté, all.

You'd be surprised how far America's willing to go in the name of religious freedom. Open-air cremation doesn't seem like "the American way," no -

But neither does animal sacrifice, and in 1993, a Santería organisation defended their right to such - and won - in a Supreme Court case, The Church of Lukumí Babalu Aye v. the City of Hialeah. While people may attempt to make rules against religious rites simply out of prejudice against the religion, such restrictions are illegal and can be thrown out in court if one is able to persist in the pursuit of justice. It has to be proven that the practices are a risk to public health or safety (or cruel, in the case of the Lukumí church).

Rationalist, I'm originally from Louisiana. Is this the part in the post where we start comparing the oppressive, miserable heat of our respective states?

Indraneela
===
Oṁ Indrāya Namaḥ.
Oṁ Namaḥ Śivāya.

[Sahasranama]

I don't know what the laws on religious freedom are here in the Netherlands. When I was sixteen I was doing agnihotra in the backyard and my neighboor called the police on me and they told us not to burn fire in the backyard. I still do it sometimes though.

[Ramakrishna]

Originally Posted by Indraneela

You'd be surprised how far America's willing to go in the name of religious freedom. Open-air cremation doesn't seem like "the American way," no -

But neither does animal sacrifice, and in 1993, a Santería organisation defended their right to such - and won - in a Supreme Court case, The Church of Lukumí Babalu Aye v. the City of Hialeah. While people may attempt to make rules against religious rites simply out of prejudice against the religion, such restrictions are illegal and can be thrown out in court if one is able to persist in the pursuit of justice. It has to be proven that the practices are a risk to public health or safety (or cruel, in the case of the Lukumí church).

Namaste Indraneela,

Interesting, I've heard of that case before, or at least one like it. Some issues people would make against open-air cremation are the smell and pollution, just like they brought up in the original case. I don't think that would stand up in court though, unless the judge is a biased fundamentalist Christian.

Originally Posted by Indraneela

Rationalist, I'm originally from Louisiana. Is this the part in the post where we start comparing the oppressive, miserable heat of our respective states?

Can I play too? I'm in Tennessee, a little up north from you guys but it's still the south and I'm in the buckle of the Bible Belt!

Jai Sri Ram

[Rationalist]

Originally Posted by Indraneela

Namasté, all.

You'd be surprised how far America's willing to go in the name of religious freedom. Open-air cremation doesn't seem like "the American way," no -

But neither does animal sacrifice, and in 1993, a Santería organisation defended their right to such - and won - in a Supreme Court case, The Church of Lukumí Babalu Aye v. the City of Hialeah. While people may attempt to make rules against religious rites simply out of prejudice against the religion, such restrictions are illegal and can be thrown out in court if one is able to persist in the pursuit of justice. It has to be proven that the practices are a risk to public health or safety (or cruel, in the case of the Lukumí church).

Rationalist, I'm originally from Louisiana. Is this the part in the post where we start comparing the oppressive, miserable heat of our respective states?

Indraneela
===
Oṁ Indrāya Namaḥ.
Oṁ Namaḥ Śivāya.

I was born in Louisiana! However, Texas is WAY hotter.