St. Paul appears to favor burial. The symbolism used is that of planting a seed and having new life rise from the decaying seed. The Christian church has advocated burial since its inception. They reserved burning for Witches and other heretics. They exterminated hundreds of thousands of them, mainly during the 15th to 18th centuries.
Cremation can be an aid to murderers.
Once a body has been cremated, it cannot be exhumed and analyzed for poisons. As North American society becomes progressively more secular, it is expected that cremation will gain in favor, and become the normal method of disposing of bodies. The high number in British Columbia is partly caused by the large transient population in the province, and the presence of many Hindus and Sikhs who are almost always cremated. According to USA Today, about 553,000 Americans were cremated in 1998. The U.S. EPA has conducted ten test cremations in 1998-JUL to determine the optimum temperature to minimize smoke, dust and gas emissions during the cremation of a body.