The parking of a car over graves has been slammed as 'unacceptable and disrespectful'.
A Land Rover Discovery was photographed on grass just in front of a number of headstones at Loughborough Crematorium.
The cemetery's landowner, Charnwood Borough Council, has asked staff to be extra vigilant to inconsiderate parking.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-41035432
On the face of it this is obviously disespectful, but it raises more complex issues relating to what we do with dead people. There are many diffefent cultural traditions, and burning bodies is common in many cultures.
In some cultures there are rituals which Westerners may find offensive: http://ideas.ted.com/11-fascinating-funeral-traditions-from-around-the-globe/, for example:
The Malagasy people of Madagascar have a famous ritual called “famadihana,” or “the turning of the bones.” Once every five or seven years, a family has a celebration at its ancestral crypt where the bodies, wrapped in cloth, are exhumed and sprayed with wine or perfume. As a band plays at the lively event, family members dance with the bodies. For some, it’s a chance to pass family news to the deceased and ask for their blessings — for others, it’s a time to remember and tell stories of the dead. For such cultures parked cars on graveyards may not be an issue.
Furthermore, in the UK for example, very many graves are left unatended and it is common for headstones to fall and crack and be left on the ground where they fell - and after 100 years or so the headstones become harder and harder to read, and eventually all writing disappears. Is this disrespectful?