Do people in your country who CTB get laid outside of the cemetery?

[justletmedieplease]

Here, if you commit suicide, your remains get laid outside of the official cemetery but still on the very beginning of the site. It has something to do with suiciders being sinners. Is this practice common in your country?

 

[WornOutLife]

Nope, it isn't a common practice.
Here in Argentina, whether you ctb or not, you end up buried or cremated like any other human being. It doesn't matter the way you die.

 

[hoffnungstod]

Nope, it isn't.
Here in Argentina, whether you ctb or not, you end up buried or cremated like any other human being. It doesn't matter the way you die.

same in Germany

 

[Lady black]

In austria you also get a normal funeral

 

[justletmedieplease]

Guess EE is truly a fucked up place to live in

 

[Spiral]

It is complicated in the UK, Church of England will hold funerals for suicides but the catholic church I think it's at the discretion of the local priest if they can be buried on church grounds, but anybody can be buried in a standard cemetery that is not connected to a religious body

 

[hoffnungstod]

Guess EE is truly a fucked up place to live in

at least your capital is very nice (especially the old town) ^^

 

[death137]

I don't know about the other religions but in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church cemetery you won't be buried in the proper area. I heard that what happened to one of my ex-classmate who ctb in 2015.

 

[SuicidallyCurious]

No. US is full of evangelicals and Christianity is still the majority religion but this wouldn't be commonplace here even among those groups. You're likely to get the full treatment. We even allow financing of headstones and funerals I believe so even the poor can get it taken care of

 

[Ironweed]

Here, if you commit suicide, your remains get laid outside of the official cemetery but still on the very beginning of the site. It has something to do with suiciders being sinners. Is this practice common in your country?

This sounds like stuff I've read about countries that are predominantly Orthodox Christian (Greece, Russia, etc.) The various Orthodox Churches are pretty hardcore about suicide being a bigtime sin. FWIW, my theory is that is why the reported suicide rate is so much lower in a place like Greece than in most of the rest of Europe. The families want the deceased to have an Orthodox funeral and if the death is declared a suicide they can't get it. Meaning the priests, doctors, etc., go out of their way to call the death anything BUT a suicide. And something like 95% of the population of Greece is at least nominally Greek Orthodox Christian.

I think it varies by denomination in the USA, and in a lot of places, at least in the northeast, the cemeteries are actually run by the towns. Meaning no religious affiliation needed to buy a plot. Just the $$ to do so.

I don't think most Protestant denominations, from the most conservative to the most liberal, have any particular sense that there's "hallowed" ground when it comes to churches or cemeteries. Meaning they're fine with the deceased who committed suicide being buried inside a cemetery. Whether they would allow a service to be held in their church, dunno, I guess that would vary by denomination. I think some consider suicide a sin, some are more forgiving. But I can't see any nonsense about being buried inside or outside of certain properties.

If your family wants you to be buried as a Catholic and you commit suicide there very well could be issues for a family seeking a Catholic burial. It IS considered a sin, and potentially a grave one, on par with murder. However, I think nowadays most priests let it go, using the "grave psychological disturbances" excuse from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. (link, see below)

Suicide
2280 Everyone is responsible for his life before God who has given it to him. It is God who remains the sovereign Master of life. We are obliged to accept life gratefully and preserve it for his honor and the salvation of our souls. We are stewards, not owners, of the life God has entrusted to us. It is not ours to dispose of.
2281 Suicide contradicts the natural inclination of the human being to preserve and perpetuate his life. It is gravely contrary to the just love of self. It likewise offends love of neighbor because it unjustly breaks the ties of solidarity with family, nation, and other human societies to which we continue to have obligations. Suicide is contrary to love for the living God.
2282 If suicide is committed with the intention of setting an example, especially to the young, it also takes on the gravity of scandal. Voluntary co-operation in suicide is contrary to the moral law.
Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide.
2283 We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The Church prays for persons who have taken their own lives.

My reading of the above, and from what I've been told, inclines me to think if you or your family wants a Catholic burial it is available, including burial in hallowed ground. I guess you just couldn't be a celebrity with a large following among the young or some such thing (see paragraph 2282 above).

Kind of the "Well, no, but actually yes" attitude the Church has about topics like divorce, I guess. On paper suicide is a very bad thing. In practice, not so much. Or so I've come to think.

Most Jews in America are Reform Jews, meaning their religious practice is cultural more than it is anything else, at least to my cynical eye. I doubt a suicide would have any trouble being buried in a Jewish cemetery, at least of the Reform branch. (Conservative, Hasidic, etc., dunno. Maybe not.)

No clue what Mormons do about suicides. Not many around where l live. (Personally don't consider Mormons to be Christians. Too many differences. Nice enough people, just not Christian.) I guess since they do after-death baptisms and other weirdness they have no problem with suicides getting buried via their Temple ceremonies.

Good grief. Sorry for wasting everyone's time with this wall of text.

 

[loopylou]

U.K. here. People who aren't christened can't be buried in church grounds but can be in a standard cemetery

 

[justletmedieplease]

This sounds like stuff I've read about countries that are predominantly Orthodox Christian (Greece, Russia, etc.) The various Orthodox Churches are pretty hardcore about suicide being a bigtime sin. FWIW, my theory is that is why the reported suicide rate is so much lower in a place like Greece than in most of the rest of Europe. The families want the deceased to have an Orthodox funeral and if the death is declared a suicide they can't get it. Meaning the priests, doctors, etc., go out of their way to call the death anything BUT a suicide. And something like 95% of the population of Greece is at least nominally Greek Orthodox Christian.

I think it varies by denomination in the USA, and in a lot of places, at least in the northeast, the cemeteries are actually run by the towns. Meaning no religious affiliation needed to buy a plot. Just the $$ to do so.

I don't think most Protestant denominations, from the most conservative to the most liberal, have any particular sense that there's "hallowed" ground when it comes to churches or cemeteries. Meaning they're fine with the deceased who committed suicide being buried inside a cemetery. Whether they would allow a service to be held in their church, dunno, I guess that would vary by denomination. I think some consider suicide a sin, some are more forgiving. But I can't see any nonsense about being buried inside or outside of certain properties.

If your family wants you to be buried as a Catholic and you commit suicide there very well could be issues for a family seeking a Catholic burial. It IS considered a sin, and potentially a grave one, on par with murder. However, I think nowadays most priests let it go, using the "grave psychological disturbances" excuse from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. (link, see below)


My reading of the above, and from what I've been told, inclines me to think if you or your family wants a Catholic burial it is available, including burial in hallowed ground. I guess you just couldn't be a celebrity with a large following among the young or some such thing (see paragraph 2282 above).

Kind of the "Well, no, but actually yes" attitude the Church has about topics like divorce, I guess. On paper suicide is a very bad thing. In practice, not so much. Or so I've come to think.

Most Jews in America are Reform Jews, meaning their religious practice is cultural more than it is anything else, at least to my cynical eye. I doubt a suicide would have any trouble being buried in a Jewish cemetery, at least of the Reform branch. (Conservative, Hasidic, etc., dunno. Maybe not.)

No clue what Mormons do about suicides. Not many around where l live. (Personally don't consider Mormons to be Christians. Too many differences. Nice enough people, just not Christian.) I guess since they do after-death baptisms and other weirdness they have no problem with suicides getting buried via their Temple ceremonies.

Good grief. Sorry for wasting everyone's time with this wall of text.

No, of course not. That was actually pretty interesting to read, thank you for the time you took writing it. You nailed it pretty well, I come from Eastern Europe, a dominantly Orthodox country. The church here has such a large influence on people even after they pass away. I can't think of a reason good enough to not have the respect for someone who decided to end their lives that you wouldn't give them a proper burial like any other human being.