In Theory:

The cellular giant T-Mobile is reportedly seeking to build a 100-foot-tall cell phone tower in a graveyard. The cemetery’s owner, the Archdiocese of Boston, has approved the plan and agreed to lease the spot to T-Mobile. The proposal to build the tower has raised the ire of neighbors and guardians of people buried there, who say such a tower would violate the memories of people buried there.

What do you think?

Profiting from the construction of a cell phone tower in a graveyard dishonors those buried there and thus it is an insult to their surviving family members.

Our primary obligation to our deceased loved ones is to treat them with respect.

When king Hezekiah died, the people of Israel “buried him in the upper section of the tombs of the sons of David; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death.” (2 Chronicles 32:33, New American Standard Bible).

David blessed the men of Jabesh-gilead because they honored Saul their fallen king by retrieving his body and burying him after his final battle (Samuel 2:5). Israel honored Joseph by bringing his mummified body with them for burial in the Promised Land 400 years after his death.

There are plenty of other ways to raise funds for ministry. The Archdiocese of Boston should value the love of others above the opportunity to make a few bucks.

PASTOR JON BARTA

Valley Baptist Church

Burbank  

From what I understand, this old graveyard is a bit dilapidated and not well-maintained. Perhaps some of the thousands of dollars generated by renting out the near imperceptible space in the woods at one end of its perimeter could be used to pay for some much-needed care.

I think a lot of the disgruntlement is over some superstitious belief that the dead will be disturbed by it all. People often spend a mint putting their dearly departed into fine wood caskets, erecting artistically chiseled headstones, and buying beautiful plots with a view, but in the final analysis it has nothing at all to do with the deceased.

The Bible says “the dead know nothing” (Ecclesiastes 9:5 New International Version), and that doesn’t refer to the spiritual afterlife. It means that nobody is rolling over in their grave, apoplectic because someone hoisted an antenna nearby, or because wilted flowers are sitting above their mound of earth. They are dead, and they couldn’t care less.