Animal Sacrifice

2). Hebrews practiced the custom in elaborate ways. Jewish law describes the methods to be used during brute religious rite killing, a practice known as "shechitah," (Crabtree, 2001, p. 1). The shechitah ritual was performed by a rabbi or one known as the "shochet" who killed the living organism quickly with one deep stroke of a exquisite blade across the beast's throat, (Crabtree, 2001, p. 1). Such a method was through to cause minimal pain and ensure the quick drain of the tool's blood.

Despite the culture, the theology of animal(prenominal) sacrifice encompasses a weigh of comparable reasons for engaging in this ritual. Sacrifices were plan to sustain the gods in some cultures, while in others they were offered in straddle to flock with the gods. In other cultures the sacrificial animal victim's blood was thought to contain some power that appeased the gods. At other times, the animal sacrifice was offered as a victim in order to appease the wrath of the gods. In many cultures, the animal sacrifice occurred during an elaborate ritual or festival and was consumed by those in attendance. The term "sacrificial lamb" is closely related to both(prenominal) Jewish and Christian religious history. The burn down-offerings of these religions and the cultures that practiced them symbolized elaborate rituals of sapidity and flesh to honor God. As Carstens (2003, p. 112) notes, "The behavior around the burnt offering altar is dynamic, every daytime people and priests utilise to the altar with sacrific

The religious texts of Jews and Christians be filled with references to animal sacrifice. In the Old Testament, the Lord commands Aaron and his sons in Exodus to "Sacrifice a bull each day as a sin offering to make atonement," (O'Donnell, 2004, p. 40). Sacrifices in the Middle East were no less common. Camel sacrifice rituals were quite an common during the Safavid period, though not expressly sanctioned by the Islamic holy book the Koran.

Camels were often consumed during the sacrificial ritual or ceremony and, once more, we see that it was believed that they contained some manna or power that was revitalizing to both God and practitioners. As Rahimi (2004, p. 453) explains of the Safavid camel sacrifice ritual, "The sacrificial rituals reveal a significant political symbolism in which the participants regain a relinquished verve in the performance of ritual consumption, a practice that at last affirms the immortality of the state as a transcendent entity."

Despite the detail that most religions have abandoned or banned animal sacrifice rituals in practice, there are some mod religious groups and that still engage in the practice of animal sacrifice. One such group is the Santeria religion, a "blend of westerly African Yoruba religion and Catholicism," (Mastroni, 2004, p. 133). Santeria came to the U.S. from Cuba in the 1960s and most of its practitioners resided in Hialeah, Florida. Residents there found the practice distasteful. Hialeah passed ordinances prohibiting the ritual sacrifice of animals. However, the initiate of t
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