I was not attempting to make an argument from authority. Instead, I was offering a perspective from Christian beliefs re: your "make oneself feel more compassio

I was not attempting to make an argument from authority. Instead, I was offering a perspective from Christian beliefs re: your "make oneself feel more compassionate ... does nothing for the deceased". Rather than leave it hand-wavy ("because of God and stuff") I cited Sacred Scripture and the Catechism to show that respectful burial and praying for the souls of the dead are positive obligations of the Christian faithful per the precept of charity, at least according to Catholic belief. In the context of the OP, the sense of religious and moral obligation is not necessarily present, I grant that. As for the rest of your reply to me, well ... for one, what do you hope to accomplish with such condescending language? Re: "brutal, evil deeds", that seems to fall in the category of the problem of evil. More specifically, a variation along of the lines of: "If God has revealed Himself as Christians claim, and arranged it such that the transmission of that revelation across time and space is so crucial, then why does He permit Christians, especially their leadership, to commit evil acts, since those acts can so easily detract from their credibility?" Those are just things to think about. I don't intend to make another reply in this thread.