Print this post.
To the disgrace of an enlightened and compassionate humanity, in animal sacrifices, public “festivals” and even common “entertainment” (in which animal torture and subjugation are seen as perfectly normal), the large-scale brutalization of non-human, fully sentient creatures is still permitted and even required by the most backward sectors of several religions and cultures around the world. As we might expect, those cultures still more deeply stuck in medievalism and conservative traditions exhibit the worst dimensions of animal sacrifice and insensitivity to the animals’ pain. To their shame, and in direct contradiction of the believers’ claim that their deities and prophets are not only almighty but compassionate, Islam, Hinduism, Orthodox Judaism, Santeria, Catholicism, and scores of other cults and faiths endorse such practices.
A bull bled heavily
Bullfights and Holiday festivals in Spain (most endorsed by the local Catholic parishes, defended as defining “Spanish” culture, and now under vigorous attack by animal rights campaigners). Bullfights, and the celebratory lore surrounding this spectacle, along with hundreds of festivals throughout Spain involving the murder and torture of animals, from bulls, to chickens and goats, has long been an embarrassment to the rest of Europe, although the “traditions” have been unthinkingly glamorized by Hollywood and prominent writers, iccluding Hemingway.
Kaporos, etc (Jewish). The three “Judeo-Christian/Ibrahamic” religions are notorious for their deeply embedded dominionist posture. In practice, and not due to any moral improvement, the Jewish faith no longer permits animal sacrifices, per se, something at one time required of followers of the Torah. According to Jewish precepts it was only permitted and obligatory to bring (animal) sacrifices to the Holy Temple, but when this was destroyed, with no sanctified place available, the sacrifices of animals stopped. The complicated situation is explained thusly:
“When the First Holy Temple was destroyed, there was no place to bring sacrifices. It was, in fact, forbidden to bring sacrifices, since there was no Temple. We then asked Hashem, how will we attain atonement? Hashem said, through Hosea: “Take words with you and return to Hashem. Say to Him, ‘Forgive all sin and accept the good we do. We will offer prayer instead of animals” (Hosea 14:3).
And King solomon also teaches us, “He who conceals his sins will not succeed, but he who confesses and abandons them will obtain mercy” (Proverbs 28:13). While it is true that there is more to repentance than that, anyone who follows those two basic instructions — confess your sin to Hashem and stop committing the sin — Hashem will have mercy on that person.
So, where it is impossible to bring sacrifices, we can be forgiven through repentance, confession and prayer. But when it is possible to bring sacrifices, we are required to, and we must. As King David prophesied, “Do good, as You see fit, to Zion. May You rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Then will You desire the sacrifices brought by the righteous, burnt offerings and whole offerings; bullocks will then be offered upon Your altar” (Psalms 51:20-21).
After seventy years of Babylonian Exile, just as the Prophet Daniel had promised, the exile ended. Many Jews returned to the Holy Land, and we once again built the Holy Temple. And still it was forbidden to bring sacrifices anywhere else.
420 years later, the Holy Temple was destroyed again, this time by the Romans. Once again, we were in exile. This time, the Rabbis told us, the exile will last very long, and no end date is known.
And when the Messiah comes, the Holy Temple will be rebuilt, and once again we will bring sacrifices on the Holy Altar there, as it says “And the sacrificial offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to Hashem, like in the olden days years ago” (Malachi 3:4). (Source: BeingJewish.com)
GadhiMai (Hinduism/Nepal). Recently banned. This hideous festival involved the killing of hundreds of thousands of animals in honor of a blood-thirsty Goddess. (See, for example, At long last: From now on, no more animal sacrifice at Nepal’s Gadhimai festival).
Eid (Islam/All Islamic nations: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, ISIL, Iraq, etc.)
Eid al-Adha, also known as “Bakr Id,” “Feast of the Sacrifice” and “Greater Eid,” is celebrated to commemorate the willingness of Prophet Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Ishmael as an act of submission to Allah (God). Muslims sacrifice sheep, lambs, cows and camels to remember Ibrahim’s devotion.
As usual, it does not occur to these people that the most elementary thinking would highlight the sheer moral bankruptcy of having another sentient, totally innocent, animal, be forced to stand in and pay with her life, for the humans’ supposed “sacrifice” to a cruel God.
Most unfortunately, many PC liberals (not to mention conservatives, for their own reasons), and the normal cowardice and opportunism of politicians, oppose any state acts to outlaw such rites in the name of “cultural respect.” Complicating matters even further, the longstanding criminality of our foreign policy, which has marked the Middle East and Muslims in general for savage repression, destroying and disrupting with abandon many of their nations, has erased any moral standing the West might have had to frown on such customs. Lastly, as long as humanity continues to allow the massive, phenomenal torture and killing of animals for food in the name of business, “necessity,” or as a (literally) God-given right (dominionism), the cancellation of these horrid practices will be an uphill struggle. Indeed, massive hog and chicken production are now enormous threats to the environment. Factory farming is on a par with CO2 emissions as a factor in global warming. This is no longer about just compassion—always welcome—but of being consistent with a revolutionary overhaul of society for the sake of the planet itself.
Moscow bans Islamic sacrifice of fully-conscious animals for upcoming Muslim holiday of Eid (2014)
http://www.barenakedislam.com/2014/10/04/yes-moscow-bans-islamic-sacrifice-of-fully-conscious-animals-for-upcoming-muslim-holiday-of-eid/
Muslims in the Russian capital Moscow have been denied the right to celebrate the upcoming Eid al-Adhu (Feast of the Sacrifice) Islamic holiday after local authorities banned them from carrying out the traditional slaughter ritual, famous for its barbaric and agonizingly slow, pain-filled blood-letting of animals.
World Bulletin The second of the two Eid holidays in the Islamic calendar, Muslims typically celebrate the occasion by slaughtering a lamb, a cow or a camel and distributing its meat to relatives, neighbors and the poor.
However, a spokesman for the city’s inter-regional cooperation, national policy and religious organizations department, told Interfax on Wednesday that the sale and slaughter of sacrificial animals will be banned in Moscow during the holiday.
Muslims will be allowed to fulfill the religious rite in villages outside of the main city, he added.
A recent influx of migrant workers in Moscow from mainly Muslim parts of Russia, such as the northern Caucasus and central Asia, have brought to light new issues in the city, amid increasing tensions between migrants and the city’s Slavic community.
Currently, there are only four official mosques in Moscow, which is insufficient to cope with the increase of Muslims arriving in the city.
Muslims in Moscow in recent years have had to resort to praying their Eid prayers in public squares with prior permission from the local authorities.
In total, around 23 million Muslims live in Russia, making it the country’s second largest religion with 15% of the overall population of 145 million.
MORE ABOUT: HALAL RITUAL SLAUGHTER
PAKISTAN
SAUDI ARABIA & OTHER EID OBSERVANT CULTURES
Nauseated by the
vile corporate media?
Had enough of their lies, escapism,
omissions and relentless manipulation?
Send a donation to
The Greanville Post–or
But be sure to support YOUR media.
If you don’t, who will?
6 comments
Wtf….is wrong with these people?!
‘these people’ are us… if we have had a turkey for thanksgiving, a roast duck for christmas or a ham for easter…we are no different than ‘them’
time for culture to change it’s 2015……the “gods” don’t need this anymore
This article singles out Islam as it ignores equally repugnant violence to animals in christian nations. Let’s face it to the animal being killed, it does not matter if it is for Christmas or Eid.
The article also fails to mention one significant religion, Jainism, which from it earliest beginnings prohibited sacrifice and all violence to animals. Though a minority in India, the Jain religion has significant political clout, owns the Times of India and regularly lobbies for an end to violence to animals, with great success. We in the west think of power in terms of number, but in terms of influence, Jainism is indeed a major religion in India.
To ignore this influence and single out Islam does little to end the horrors of violence to animals in all three of the dominion religions.
Due to the influence of the Jain concept of Ahimsa, the bloody Hindu Gadhimai Festival of Nepal has been banned. It will no longer be held. Ahimsa was cited as inspiration for the ban.
It is dominion:
Genesis 9:1-3 “The fear and dread of you shall rest on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the air, on everything that creeps on the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and just as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.’”
that is responsible for so much of the carnage… slaughter and sacrifice… the distinction means little to the victims.
Yes, this is very gross. But would you prohibit human sacrifice too? It apparently occurs in the “best” – the richest and most successful – of families – all over the Western world… See Kerth Barker’s “Cannibalism, Blood-Drinking & High-Adept Satanism”… Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut” (which tells some but not all of the story).
We need level heads and realistic analysis of the issue of violence to animals, not the melodrama of a Stanley Kubrick film. Satanism is associated with christianity, and it is no wonder. When you inspire your followers with fear of eternal damnation for non-compliance, you are creating a dark side.
It is really much more effective to consider the underlying root cause which allows for violence to animals in the name of religion and that is dominion
The Jain concept of ahimsa is based on observation and compassion. It is really quite simple, just a we do not want to be harmed, so we must not harm others. This is possible with ahimsa because it equates the value of human and animal lives…
It is no wonder that ahimsa was responsible for ending the horrors of the Hindu Gadhimai festival. When violence to animals, all violence, is prohibited, it is much easier to end sacrifice…. and every other cruelty spawned by dominion.