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Meanwhile, cremations began to be practiced in Germany in 1878, with the town of Gotha adopting the practice. In the United States, the practice began also at about the same time in 1876. In the United States, cremations became increasingly legalized as people argued that dead bodies began to contaminate water systems, thus it became necessary to cremate in high density locations (Figure 2).<ref>For more on cremations in the United States, see: Prothero, S.R. (2001) Purified by fire: a history of cremation in America. Berkeley, University of California Press.</ref>
While cremations increasingly became accepted in the Western world in the late 19th century, what finally made it even more acceptable to more religious populations was the Pope lifting the Catholic Church's ban on cremation in 1963. This, in some way, was also due to pressure from poorer Catholics who often could not afford normal burial and thus found cremation as a cheaper alternative. For Protestants, most denominations became more accepting of cremations after World War I. Modern crematoriums were considered different in how they burned bodies, thus they were no longer seen as being part of pagan ritual by those who were more religiously inclindedinclined.<ref>For more on the lifting of prohibitions against cremation by major Christian denominations, see: Douglas James Davies & Lewis H. Mates (eds.) (2005) Encyclopedia of cremation. Aldershot, England ; Burlington, VT, Ashgate, pg. 383.</ref>
[[File:1024px-2006 US cremation rates map.svg.png|thumbnail|Figure 2. Cremation in the United States 2006.]]