bending stereotypes

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by RyanW

Expectation of bodily resurrection at the final judgment, the belief that the body was an integral part of the self rather than just a receptacle the soul inhabits in life, the general disfavor of cremation in several Middle Eastern cultures going back to Ancient Egypt and transmitted west via Judaism and to a lesser extent Zoroastrianism, and the connection of cremation with pagan rites.

Zoroastrians associate fire with Mazda and thus cannot desecrate it by feeding a dead man to it. That is why they feed them to birds which is kind of yucky but when you think of it, more economical in effort once the fire tower is built.