What do the world's religions say about cremation?
Religions are divided on cremation. Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism generally expect it. Islam, Orthodox Judaism, and the Eastern Orthodox Church forbid it. The Catholic Church allows it with rules about where the ashes must rest, and most Protestant churches, Latter-day Saints, and Jehovah's Witnesses leave the choice to the family.
This is the home page of a reference series on how each religion, and the branches within it, view cremation. Each linked page answers the question directly, explains the official teaching and when it was set, describes how the tradition is lived today, and answers the questions families actually ask: scattering, keeping ashes at home, dividing them, memorial jewelry, and what kind of funeral is possible. Every doctrinal claim is cited to the tradition's own sources. We wrote it because a grieving family deserves a real answer, not a guess.
Key facts at a glance
- Traditions that generally require or expect cremation: Hinduism, Buddhism (most schools), Sikhism, Jainism.
- Traditions that forbid cremation: Islam (all major schools), Orthodox Judaism, Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Oriental Orthodox churches, Baha'i Faith, Zoroastrianism (traditionally).
- Traditions that allow cremation with conditions: Catholic Church (ashes must rest in a sacred place; no scattering, home keeping, or keepsakes, with one narrow exception since 2023), Conservative Judaism (discouraged; ashes may be buried).
- Traditions that leave it to the family: Most Protestant denominations, Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jehovah's Witnesses, most secular and humanist families.
- Indigenous and Pacific Islander traditions: Vary by nation and community; there is no single position, and some practices are not shared outside the community.
- United States today: The National Funeral Directors Association projects a 63.4 percent cremation rate in 2025, up from about 25 percent in 1999.
- Who decides: In Catholic, Orthodox, Islamic, and Orthodox Jewish communities, religious law. Nearly everywhere else, the family.
On this page
- Christianity
- Judaism
- Islam
- Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism
- East Asian traditions
- Indigenous and Pacific Islander traditions
- Secular and humanist perspectives
- Common questions families ask
- Where personal choice and memorial keepsakes fit
- Sources
Christianity
Christianity is the largest faith in the United States and the one with the widest range of answers. The Christian Views on Cremation hub compares every major denomination side by side. Individual pages:
- Catholic: allowed since 1963, ashes must rest in a sacred place, scattering and keepsakes not permitted.
- Eastern Orthodox: forbidden; funeral rites normally withheld when cremation was chosen.
- Protestant (overview): allowed by nearly every body, a matter of family choice.
- Southern Baptist: allowed; no convention resolution, each church decides.
- United Methodist: allowed; no position for or against, liturgy provided for ashes.
- Evangelical and nondenominational: allowed; a matter of conscience, some leaders prefer burial.
- Latter-day Saints: allowed; the family decides, temple clothing and funeral still apply.
- Jehovah's Witnesses: allowed; a personal decision with no scriptural objection.
Pages for Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopal and Anglican, Pentecostal, Oriental Orthodox, Seventh-day Adventist, Christian Science, and Quaker traditions are in progress.
Judaism
In Judaism the branch is the whole story. Jewish Views on Cremation walks through Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist positions in turn. In short: Orthodox Judaism forbids cremation because burial in the earth is a commandment and the body is owed honor; Conservative Judaism prohibits it but allows a rabbi to officiate beforehand and ashes to be buried in a Jewish cemetery; Reform Judaism discourages cremation while leaving the decision to the family; Reconstructionist Judaism treats it as a personal choice. The memory of the Holocaust weighs on all four.
Islam
Islam forbids cremation, and this is one of the few questions on which Sunni and Shia scholars, and all four Sunni schools of law, agree. The body is to be washed, shrouded, prayed over, and buried in the ground as soon as possible, ideally within a day. Burning the body is considered a violation of the dignity owed to the deceased. A page covering Sunni and Shia practice, what a Muslim family should do when a relative dies where burial is difficult, and how Muslims approach memorial keepsakes is in progress.
Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism
The religions that began in India take the opposite starting point from the Abrahamic faiths. For Hindus, cremation (antyeshti, the last sacrifice) is the expected rite for nearly everyone, releasing the soul from the body and returning the elements to their sources; the ashes are traditionally immersed in a river. Sikhs also cremate and scatter or immerse the ashes in flowing water, and Sikh teaching discourages monuments to the dead. Jains cremate and do not keep ashes. Buddhists in most traditions cremate, following the example of the Buddha himself, though customs differ between Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana communities, and Tibetan practice includes sky burial. For these families the question is rarely whether to cremate, but what to do afterward and how quickly. Pages for each tradition are in progress.
East Asian traditions
Japan cremates nearly every person who dies, and Shinto and Buddhist rites there include the family gathering the bones from the ashes with chopsticks. Cremation is also the norm across much of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea today, shaped by a mix of Buddhist, Confucian, Taoist, and folk practice, and in mainland China by law. Ancestor veneration continues regardless of the method, which is why urns, columbaria, and household altars matter so much in these cultures. A page on East Asian practice is in progress.
Indigenous and Pacific Islander traditions
There is no single Native American, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander view of cremation. Practices differ by nation, region, and family, and some belong to the community alone. Some nations historically cremated; many did not. We are approaching this section slowly and with the help of community voices rather than desk research, and we will only publish what can be shared respectfully and with a source. If you belong to one of these communities and would like to help us get it right, we would be grateful to hear from you.
Secular and humanist perspectives
For atheist, agnostic, and humanist families, the question is practical and personal rather than doctrinal. Humanist celebrants lead funerals and memorials for either burial or cremation, and secular families are also the ones most often choosing newer options such as alkaline hydrolysis (water cremation) and natural organic reduction (human composting), which are now legal in a growing number of states. A page on secular perspectives and green disposition is in progress. In the meantime, our guide to choosing between cremation and burial covers the practical side.
Common questions families ask
Which religions do not allow cremation?
Islam, Orthodox Judaism, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox churches (Coptic, Armenian, Ethiopian, and others), the Baha'i Faith, and traditional Zoroastrianism forbid cremation. Conservative Judaism prohibits it but will still bury the ashes. Each holds that the body is owed a specific kind of honor that burning does not provide.
Which religions require cremation?
Hinduism, Sikhism, and Jainism expect cremation for nearly everyone, and most Buddhist communities practice it by custom. Hindu tradition makes exceptions for infants, some holy people, and in some regions those who died of certain causes, who may be buried or given to a river.
Does Christianity allow cremation?
Most Christian denominations do. Catholics may cremate but must place the ashes in a cemetery, church, or columbarium. Eastern Orthodox Christians may not cremate. Protestants, Latter-day Saints, and Jehovah's Witnesses treat it as a family decision. See the Christian hub for each denomination.
Can religious families keep ashes at home or in memorial jewelry?
It depends entirely on the tradition. Catholic guidance does not permit it apart from a narrow exception a bishop may grant. Orthodox Jewish, Muslim, and Eastern Orthodox teaching does not contemplate keeping ashes because cremation itself is not allowed. Hindu and Sikh custom expects the ashes to be immersed rather than kept, though many families in the diaspora keep a small portion. Most Protestant, Reform Jewish, Latter-day Saint, Jehovah's Witness, and secular families are free to keep an urn at home or wear a small, symbolic portion of ashes in a pendant.
Why do religions disagree about cremation?
The disagreement comes down to what each tradition believes the body is. Faiths that teach bodily resurrection have historically buried the dead as an act of faith, and some still require it. Faiths that teach reincarnation or liberation of the soul see the body as a vessel to be returned to the elements, and cremation does that. Faiths that emphasize ancestor veneration care more about where the remains rest than about the method.
What if my loved one's wishes conflict with our religion?
Talk with your clergy before deciding. Most traditions have pastoral provisions for hard cases, such as an Orthodox priest offering memorial prayers when a cremation has already happened, a Catholic bishop's guidance on where ashes may rest, or a Conservative rabbi burying ashes in a Jewish cemetery. You are not the first family to face this, and clergy are used to helping.
Where personal choice and memorial keepsakes fit
We sell cremation jewelry, and we want to be plain about that so you can weigh what we say accordingly. This series exists because, over years of talking with families, we kept hearing the same worry: "Is this allowed?" The honest answer is that it depends on your faith, and we would rather tell you that your tradition says no than sell you something you would later regret.
Where a tradition leaves the choice to the family, keeping a small, symbolic portion of ashes close in a memorial pendant is one of the ways people carry someone through the ordinary days, and you can see how those keepsakes work in our cremation jewelry collection. Where a tradition says no, there are other ways to keep them close: a piece engraved with a name, a date, or a line of Scripture; a lock of hair; soil or sand from a place that mattered. There is no right or wrong way to carry a loss.
Sources
- Ad resurgendum cum Christo, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 2016
- Regarding Suicides and Cremation, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
- Why Does Judaism Forbid Cremation?, Chabad.org
- What Is Reform Judaism's Position on Cremation?, Central Conference of American Rabbis
- Ask The UMC: cremation and organ donation, The United Methodist Church
- General Handbook, chapter 38, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- What Does the Bible Say About Cremation?, jw.org
- 2025 Cremation and Burial Report, National Funeral Directors Association, 2025
- Industry Statistics, Cremation Association of North America
- Religious Landscape Study, Pew Research Center, 2023 to 2024
This page is educational and reflects official positions as published by each tradition at the time of the update. Individual communities and clergy may hold stricter or more permissive views. When in doubt, ask your priest, pastor, rabbi, imam, or community leader.