A roadblock in Delaware

July 12, 2024/Business, Regulations/

All states have some type of restriction on who can fill in and file death certificates online. And, in most states, that responsibility lies many times with licensed funeral directors and morticians. This article from Delaware Public Radio WDDE tells us of a discrimination lawsuit being filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) because of that “restricted” practice.

Evidently, Delaware is one of those states with some “online” restrictions. And, one of those restrictions is that you must be a licensed funeral director. In Delaware obtaining a license for being a funeral director or mortician requires a person to complete 25 embalmings.

The ACLU has came to the defense of a Muslim Imam who contends that obtaining the 25 embalmings is discriminating because as a Muslim he considers the embalming of a body to be desecration of that body. That belief poses a challenge for becoming a funeral director which then does not let him file death certificate information for families that he is helping.

The attorney for the Imam, Dwayne Bensing, is quoted in the article saying this, “So they are profiting off of this exclusionary practice that the state of Delaware is signing off on because they require for funeral directors to get their licenses this embalming requirement, which really is not applicable to Muslim burials. And worse than that, it is sacrilegious to the Muslim faith.”

The article also contains this statement, “The ACLU was unsuccessful in securing an exemption for the Imam. It also alleges the Delaware Board of Funeral Services has increasingly targeted him by urging local hospitals to refuse to release bodies to the Imam.”

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take: It will be interesting to see how this disagreement gets worked out. I understand the Imam’s point of view as he believes that he will never, in has career of helping grieving families, do an embalming.

On the other hand, licensure by state authorities proves a competence in what you are attempting to do — in this case, help families with the Death Care issues of their loved ones. . . .including filing death certificates. And those competencies, required to be licensed, more than likely should not be lessened just because you believe you might never do a certain task.

The words “Separation of Church and State” do not appear in the United States Constitution. Here’s what the 1st Amendment does say:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

A lot of court cases have been heard over the wording of that phrase of 45 words. . . . It looks like we might have another one in Delaware in the near future.