A new law in Arizona that was recently signed by Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs makes it legal to compost a human body. Dubbed the “Grandpa in the Garden Bill,” the legislation allows people to bypass traditional burials and even cremation to turn their relatives’ remains into soil they can use for landscaping their yards.
Arizona is now the seventh state to allow human composting. Add this disturbing trend to the creeping paganism that is taking over our once Christian society.
According to proponents of human composting, it is a “carbon neutral” alternative to burial and cremation. The deceased is wrapped in a biodegradable shroud, covered with mulch, wood chips and wildflowers, and sealed in a “soil transformation vessel” which is heated to 131 degrees Fahrenheit. After 45 days, the composted remains are collected and used as fertilizer in gardens or forests.
What’s wrong with that? Aren’t we reminded on Ash Wednesday that “dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return”?
Yes, but human composting is missing a key element: the honor and respect due to the human body as it is made in the image of God Himself. The fact that human composting is touted as “carbon neutral” makes it crystal clear that proponents care more about the goddess Gaia (“Mother Earth”) than respect for the recently departed.
In fact, it is hard to think of a practice that is less respectful of the dead than turning them into fertilizer in order to “save the planet”. But it makes sense when one considers that the new pagans view human beings not as a special creation granted stewardship over all the earth, but as despoilers of the natural world. So they treat human bodies accordingly, using the same methods they would use to dispose of weeds and vegetable peels.
A March 2023 statement by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops explained the Church’s opposition to human composting: “Like alkaline hydrolysis, human composting is not sufficiently respectful of the human body. In fact, the body is completely disintegrated. There is nothing distinguishably left of the body to be placed in a casket or an urn and laid to rest in a sacred place where Christian faithful can visit for prayer and remembrance.” While burial is preferred, flame-based cremation is allowed as long as the ashes are laid to rest in a sacred space.
Praying for the dead is one of the spiritual works of mercy. Visiting a Catholic cemetery on All Souls Day is a beautiful and moving way to memorialize the dead and to be reminded that our bodies will be resurrected on the Last Day.