Dirt in the Ground

Still, there is something unsatisfying in all this. Human composting is a peculiarly American project, in that it can only justify its reasons in terms of improvement, productivity, and marketing science. And as it happens, the only significant opposition to the practice rests on these same grounds. When Spade shepherded her proposal for legalization through the Washington state legislature in 2019, local Catholic authorities spoke out against human composting, saying that “disposing human remains in such a manner fails to show enough respect for the body of the deceased.” But as this is already the Church’s argument against cremation—one that many of its members don’t even take seriously—little attention was paid to the protest. And in the other states where human composting has been legalized, Catholic leaders have said much the same. The Church in California, however, formulated what I think is a more interesting argument. Read Full Article »