Many religious groups believe that tattoos are against their religion and destroy the temple that is a person’s body. Jones notes that “[b]efore he could be buried, a tattooed chief in the Marquesas had to have his skin removed postmortem to be allowed in to heaven” (Jones 3). This demonstrates that tattooing was acceptable for the living but tainted an individual’s acceptance into heaven. Jones mentions tattooing “was considered erotic, bu[t] paradoxically repelled the god who ruled Paradise” (Jones 3). Although tattooing was a staple in Polynesians, the God that they worshipped was repelled by their branding of flesh. The ancient tradition off being tattooed “was among the Polynesians before Christian missionaries discouraged them from marking
