Editing Cremation (section)

=== Modern era ===
{{see also|List of countries by cremation rate}}
In the 20th century, cremation gained varying degrees of acceptance in most Christian denominations. [[William Temple (bishop)|William Temple]], the most senior bishop in the [[Church of England]], was cremated after his death in office in 1944. The [[Roman Catholic Church]] accepted the practice more slowly. In 1963, at the [[Second Vatican Council]] [[Pope Paul VI]] lifted the ban on cremation,<ref name="kohmescher">{{cite book| last = Kohmescher| first = Matthew F.| title = Catholicism Today: A Survey of Catholic Belief and Practice| year = 1999| publisher = Paulist Press| isbn = 0-8091-3873-5| pages = [https://archive.org/details/catholicismtoday0000kohm_z7d7/page/178 178–179]| url = https://archive.org/details/catholicismtoday0000kohm_z7d7/page/178}}</ref> and in 1966 allowed Catholic priests to [[officiate]] at cremation ceremonies. This is done on the condition that the ashes must be buried or interred, not scattered. Many countries where burial is traditional saw cremation rise to become a significant, if not the most common way of disposing of a dead body. In the 1960s and 1970s, there was an unprecedented phase of crematorium construction in the United Kingdom<ref name="arch-review"/> and the Netherlands.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290753255 |title=Designing a place for goodbye: The architecture of crematoria in the Netherlands |journal=Final Places |last1=Klassens |first1=Mirjam |last2=Groote |first2=Peter |date=January 2012 |via=researchgate.net}}</ref>

Starting in the 1960s, cremation has become more common than burial in several countries where the latter is traditional. This has included the United Kingdom (1968), Czechoslovakia (1980),<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347305450 |title='Life Begins in the Heat of Love and Ends in the Heat of Fire': Four Views on the Development of Cremation in Czech Society |first1=Zdeněk R. |last1=Nešpor |first2=Olga |last2=Nešporová |journal=Soudobé dějiny |year=2011 |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=563–602 |via=researchgate.com |doi=10.51134/sod.2011.042|doi-access=free }}</ref> Canada (early 2000s), the United States (2016) and Finland (2017). Factors cited include cheaper costs (especially a factor after the [[Great Recession|2008 recession]]), growth in secular attitudes and declining opposition in some Christian denominations.<ref>{{cite news |last=Barron |first=James |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/10/nyregion/cremations-increase-in-a-move-away-from-tradition.html |title=In a Move Away From Tradition, Cremations Increase |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2017-08-10 |access-date=2017-08-14 }}</ref>