is animal sacrifice always wrong?
By Galena
@Galena (9110)
March 3, 2007 4:36pm CST
there are some who woudl say yes.
unless they are vegetarian, then let me put a scenario to them.
lets say I raise my own livestock (I don't, but hope to start at some stage, even if just a few chickens)
lets say, these chickens live free range in my orchard, which they would.
I care for them, look after them, feed them well. I protect them from predators. I give them a good home, good food, kind treatment. these are happy, free range, well cared for chickens.
lets say a special occasion comes up. could be midsummer, could be a birth, a family gathering, could be that spring is springing, or that we have a successful crop of apples.
I take one of these well cared for, happy, healthy chickens, that has lived a good life. as I pick this chuck up she is not afraid of me because I have always cared for her.
then quickly, cleanly and humanely I kill this chicken. with care and respect. the chicken has no reason to be afraid, because I have never given her reason to be afraid.
then, I prepare this chicken as part of a meal to honour nature for what she has given me. a good home, food enough to live well.
this chicken is treated with nothing but respect, and lives a good life, and has a quick clean death.
but if I were to do this with thought to my Gods, as a gesture to honour them for what I have been given, some people consider that evil.
surely it is more evil to allow an animal to suffer in intensive farming conditions, crowded, unnatural, unable to just be what they are, and often mistreated (many documentaries have been shown detailing conditions of chickens for KFC or turkeys for Bernard Matthews)
and yet if I were to care for, raise and cleanly dispatch my own birds with respect, honour, care, and use everything of them that I could, and making this something to honour my Gods, there are people who would think this while tucking into their factory farmed, mechanically recovered chicken nuggets.
discuss.
7 people like this
10 responses
@JennyLeah (190)
• United States
5 Mar 07
It's a fine line, but I don't think what you would be doing necessarily qualifies as sacrifice.
There's a difference between raising and killing and animal humanely for food and thanking whichever divine being you believe in as a token of gratitude, respect, or honor, isn't quite the same as killing something as an offering for the divine to do with what she/he/they please.
@tangible (60)
• United States
4 Mar 07
Absolutely not... animal sacrifice as you have described it is more than acceptable in my book.
First, for everyone else's benefit, I am a Wiccan - So, I suspect a lot of people will point a finger and say shame on me, but let's look at this properly....
That chicken being raised with love and care AND full intention of becoming food in honor the Divine is living its life sacredly and with sacred intent, its eventual departure is a predicted and anticipated outcome. TWO big points to look at in this description is 1) the chick is raised well and thoughtfully with the ultimate conclusion being its sacred service to honoring the divine and 2) this is a much more respectful way for any live food to go out ;o)
The animal here is not tortured, abused, or brutally killed - it is done respectfully, with thoughtfulness and care ... this is a great topic... touchy, but excellent...
You should have noted that anyone who has ever put meat to their mouth needs to stop and think very carefully about their possible responses ;o)
4 people like this
@rainbow (6761)
•
18 Mar 07
I think that if you are keeping any animal for food and give it the best life it could have, then the fact that you are killing it to eat it is a traditonal thing, I assume you would not be stabbing it with a sacrificial knife or anything of that kind, just the traditional neck twist thing. When you do it and whether you say a prayer for it's soul or thank a god for the life of the chicken and natures bounty is up to you as long as the chicken is not harmed, apart from being killed to be eaten, rather than dying of old age.
How many thousands of badly kept chickens reach our tables every day with no love or care entering their lives or deaths. They suffer far more evil at the hands of the food industry than you offering a prayer of thanks could ever do.
3 people like this
@Ravenladyj (22904)
• United States
17 Mar 07
I think that if the meat of the chicken is eaten later on and not just discarded then there is nothign wrong with it IMO....More often than not in Vodou rituals when a goat, chicken etc is sacrificed the meat is cooked and eaten which is something many ppl arent aware of and get all up in arms over it...Could I ever do it? No and actually this is one of those things where two parts of my path dont mix...luckily though substitutions are just as acceptable...
I've foudn that ppl tend to hear the word "sacrifice" in combonation with alternative religions/paths and right away they jump on the "thats evil" bandwagon which is a shame iMO and causes nothing but trouble..
3 people like this
@Ravenladyj (22904)
• United States
18 Mar 07
Vodou is SO misunderstood on so many levels....but then again anything that isnt mainstream, it seems to me, is misunderstood and bad-mouthed etc.....
3 people like this
@FrancyDafne (2047)
• Italy
6 Mar 07
I'm vegetarian and animalist, so what my respond will be?
Yes, it's true, our forefathers did a lot of animal sacrifices, and yet, there were ancient Pagans against them like Pitagora or Eraclito, for instance.
To me it would great to make offers with vegetables.
To me you are doing a very good thing with your animals, your are really a kind person and I like you, but I don't thins our Divinities need animal sacrifices.
Time passes, we Pagans are still here, but we are different from our ancestors.
3 people like this
@Galena (9110)
•
6 Mar 07
I'm not saying they do need sacrifice.
I like to mark at certain times of the year, what nature gives us. usually with a meal with family and close friends, where everything that we eat we have produced ourselves.
at present what we produce on our own land is a lot of vegetables, and a fair bit of fruit, especially apples. anything we buy in for the meal is locally produced.
so at the moment we have no livestock, but I do want to start raising chickens for eggs and meat (as I don't agree with factory farming) , and as such they would be included.
thnaks for your very thoughtful input.
1 person likes this
@bicklelady (1404)
• United States
17 Mar 07
Well I am a Christian and to me if you are planing on eating the chicken, I dont see anything wrong with it. On easter my family have a dinner after church and we have some kind of meat. My family celebrate Easter as the day our savior rose from the grave and went into heaven. On Christmas we have a huge dinner and eat ham. On Christmas we celebrate the day our Savior is born.
@bicklelady (1404)
• United States
19 Mar 07
I dont mean to sound stupid, but what is pagen worship?
2 people like this
@Galena (9110)
•
18 Mar 07
thanks for your input. really interesting to see a Christian Perspective, and such a sensible one too, as all to often, being Pagan I get Christians yelling at me about my sort doing animal sacrifice.
which I don't. but I would if the situation was right.
thanks.
3 people like this
@AJ1952Chats (2332)
• Anderson, Indiana
20 Apr 07
I'm against animal sacrifice of the ugly kind of mutilating an animal and not eating it.
However, what you've described is the kind of animal sacrifice that gets done to turkeys every year here in America on the fourth Thursday of November.
For many of us, it's considered a religious holiday, so I really don't see any difference between what you're talking about and Thanksgiving except that Thanksgiving is generally thought of as being a Christian holiday (although observed by a number of faiths) while you're talking about celebrating a pagan one.
Enjoy your celebration meal!!!
1 person likes this
@visitorinvasion (7709)
• United States
3 Mar 07
Unless an animal is going to be eaten, killing it is wasteful. This is from a human perspective, not any kind of religious perspective.
2 people like this
@visitorinvasion (7709)
• United States
4 Mar 07
Then knock yourself out.
Do your thing. Animals were put here to be food, so do whatcha feel ya need to do.
2 people like this
@angelicEmu (1311)
•
18 Mar 07
I think it would be a case of whether it feels right for you (being a religious ritual, it has to come down to what you feel is right), the way it's carried out, and the fact that the animal would be eaten, not discarded afterwards - ie not killing it wastefully. It's quite odd really that so many people look on pagan animal sacrifice as being barbaric, yet have no problem with Kosher or Halal meat, which is killed in a pre-prescribed way, which could be described as sacrificial, as it's a religious killing of the animal. If you feel it's right, and do it with respect, not distressing the animal, and don't waste its body afterwards, I don't think there's anything wrong with that, as long as you're not vegetarian.
2 people like this
@Schnorrawaggle (688)
• Austria
17 Mar 07
I'm vegan because of the conditions in slaughterhouses. The chicken heaven you describe would be lovely and that is the way it should be with all animals that will be eaten. Their live should be respected. They should be treated well from birth till the end. If all animals had a live like that I might not be vegan, I'd be vegetarian.
When you have a farm like that I'll come to your place and buy eggs off you. :)
2 people like this
