Leader: Double parking the dead

Published on Wednesday 14 July 2010 15:34

"REST in Peace" are the most popular three words to be found in gravestones. But the opposite looks to be in store under controversial government plans to "lift and deepen" burial sites, effectively double decking the dead.

It turns once peaceful and reflective cemeteries into little more than municipal car parks for old bones.

That the Church of Scotland has opted to go along with these proposals will surprise and upset many. Once one graveyard is dug up for secular convenience, it cannot but send a tremor through all the others. And how long will it be before the restriction limiting the removal of human remains only after they have rested for more than 75 years is progressively lowered? The objection is not so much that multi-storey burial disturbs the dead - though that it certainly does.

It offends against the sanctity of life. Graveyards are more than places for physical burial. In the middle of our towns and cities they serve as vital reminders of the gift of life. They are special places for the repose and reflection for the living. They are part and parcel of the experience of life. For that reason the Church of Scotland should be specially mindful of their care. Does it really believe there is no more to life than a crushed multi-storey heap of forgotten bones?