Regulation of Burials in Europe: Measure of Inclusivity or Exclusion?

• In Event: Reexamining Minority Religious Rites in the Context of Crises (Virtual Session)

Abstract

How does death affect the living? How is state regulation of minority religious burials an indicator of integration or marginalisation? State accommodation for religious behaviour typically focuses on the living: from religious marriages and divorces, to the construction of religious buildings, to state provision of religiously-regulated food. This makes sense as many religious communities, especially transational ones, preserve culture and heritage through religious traditions. However, the religiously observant operate in a world with a dual focus on both the here-and-now and the afterlife. In both the theological sense and the communal sense, burial plays an enormous role.

In case studies of France, Germany, and England, this paper focuses on the dead rather than the living as a lens for state integration of minority religious communities. Further, in the context of a global pandemic that makes it virtually impossible for religious individuals to repatriate in death, church-state conflicts over burial are likely to increase rather than decrease. We argue that death and burial present a complex set of incentives that have too often been overlooked when considering cross-country measures of integration and marginalization.

Authors

• Emma Rosenberg, New York University

• Clare O'Hare, University of Notre Dame