Animal Sacrifice in Name of Religion
One wonders how a “festival” could be dedicated to, and “celebrated” by, mass killing of animals.
This post is not about being vegetarian, though I am one, but a cry against sacrifice of animals in the name of religion, or faith, mostly by Muslims slaughtering an animal on the occasion of Eid, or some Hindus sacrificing goats for Goddess, or Christians killing millions of turkey on Thanksgiving day.
On Bakri-Eid, or Eid-Al-Azha, Millions of animals – goats, camels, cattle – are slaughtered on that day in public as a symbolic substitute for a son. Educated people and celebrities proudly announce the astronomical sums they paid for a sacrificial goat. Onlookers applaud the slasher, laugh or pray while the poor animal slowly dies bleeding as if it were a sport.
The cruel practice of halal involves slitting the throat of the animal, letting the animal die struggling and thrashing for life, bleeding to death, while uttering a prayer, a ritual prescribed by scriptures which cannot be interpreted. Everyday, millions of animals are slaughtered in this cruel method in the name of faith.
While in Guwahati I visited the famous Kamakshi temple, where goats, chicken, and pidgeons are regularly brought by devotees for slaughter inside the temple and offered to the goddess. I spoke with a pandaa on the subject of a government ban on animal sacrifice. He shouted at me “Let the government dare to ban the slaughter! There will be riots! Devi/Shakti will lose her power if denied the sacrifice”.
It is not only the poor, rural illiterate who believe in this practice, many of our ministers are known to sacrifice goats in appeasement of the goddess in the expectation of jinxing an opponent or winning an election.
Christians celebrate Thanksgiving Day by eating turkey. Millions of turkey are killed to “thank” God! This feast is supposedly to commemorate the survival of European settlers through their first winter due to the abundance of buzzards and fowl in the region. It is also claimed that 25 November was celebrated annually by Christian Spaniards – “thankful” to God for the surrender in 1491 by the Arab moors who had been ruling Spain since 711 AD – by gory and bawdy acts of cannibalism on black slaves called “Turks”.(2)
People of the Farao islands, part of the kingdom of Denmark, annually celebrate the festival of “grindadráp”, a gruesome festival during which hundreds of whales are killed to prove adulthood (3).
If symbolism is important, then one could take the example of the Hindu practice to offer coconuts in fire! There is a distinction between Faith and Practices: Practices can be Re-interpreted and adapted and indeed reformed.
All faiths preach compassion. Compassion extends even to the animals killed for food. But it is only humans who are cruel to their prey, no other animal is cruel to its prey.(1)
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References:
(1) Eid al-Azha, the Festival of Sacrifice: http://islam.about.com/od/hajj/a/adha.htm
(2) Jive Turkey: http://www.dherbs.com/articles/turkey-10.html
(3) “grindadráp”: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d03_1322860142
People for Ethical Treatment of Animals: www.peta.org, www.petaindia.org
I completely agree with you. I had arguments with lot of people on this topic. I still wonder how people belive that Shakti will loose power if she is not given blood!!!! wierd belief…….
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Hi Pravin, I do not believe that it’s cruelty because, life is everywhere including the TREES and vegetables that you cut, cook and eat….It’s cycle of life and we must respect that. Another point raised by you about HALAL is not correct. What HALAL means is different than what you have said above, Halal is related to process and not slaughtering in front of other animals….There is huge industry and earnings Dependant upon Animals….including the shoe, belt and other important aspects of human life style are all inter-dependent and connected. This subject has been discussed globally and society is divided in to two parts…VEGETARIAN and NON-VEGETARIAN’s, Its all about how you look at this……….Keep it up man.
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This post is not about Vegetarian-Non-Vegetarian, it is about Ethical Treatment of Animals, and specifically about Animal Sacrifice.
On the question of halal, if one has to kill to eat, why not kill the animal in one stroke, or better, stun-n-kill? If it is, as I have heard, a healthy thing, then there are many healthy practices that we should follow but we don’t. As I have said in the blogpost, all practices are laid by HUMANS in the context of a certain time, place, and circumstance; they are just practices. Humans have laid out practices for the observance of sex, drinking, marriage, eating habits, dress, etc. We use our discretion on each of these matters. Why not in the manner of killing for food?
Anyway, your perspective is important to this post.
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Hi PG,
Nice blog…..and yes the biharis and the un-educated peasants have ingrained notions and beliefs about appeasing the Goddess. The other day I was asked by my administrative assistant who comes from Peru and is a true latin in all sense, as to how I survived just eating veggies…..For which I responded that human race explored the possibility of hunting animals only because they could not find veggies in the northern regions of Europe and then when Man (as a race) found agriculture, theoretically we should have given up eating any form of meat…..but as humans we tend to keep cultures and tastes…etc For E.g. http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/seal_hunt/ the seal hunt that is still being continued as a sport in parts of Canada and Iceland and other Norwegian countries. On the other side…the frugal Monks in Tibet and parts of Himalayas live days on a wolf berry also known as Goji Berry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfberry) I completely agree with you that the Government should ban all slaughter in the name of appeasing Hindu Goddesses and funding to such temples should be cut. At the end of the day it all boils down to educating all the peasants and the people who claim to know it all but falter when it comes to such traditions like sacrifices. I guess we need another Gandhi to turn things around……. it could be you Pravin… Some quotes for thought
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated” – M.K.Gandhi
If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian. ~Paul McCartney
Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet. ~Albert Einstein
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Pravin…
To add to it….doesn’t matter how they kill the animal…fact remains that some living being is sacrificed to fill your stomach…..
Kartik
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kartik: This post is not about Vegetarianism, maybe I will take it up for some other time. This one is on Animal Sacrifice in the name of Faith/religion. Since this is the time of year when Hindus have the Navratri-Dassera festival, Muslims have the Bakri-Eid festival, and Christians have the Thanksgiving day, so it is appropriate time for a discussion on it.
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What right does a human have to kill another living being? in my opinion, we have no right to kill any other living being. Why are humans playing God?
Humans like to think they are forever evolving and developing. Surely then it is part of the destiny of the human race to leave off animals (for sacrifice and food), as surely as the savage tribes have left off eating each other.
Sacrificing animals for purely religious reasons in this day and age is senseless. Religion has to move with the times. Just because a goat has always been slaughtered doesn’t mean to say that it always has to be. We are living in the 21st Century.. it’s time for humans to start thinking creatively and behave in a manner which is fitting to these times. For example, why slaughter a living being when we are living in the age of technological advancement.. If you really feel the need to sacrifice something, then why not sacrifice a computer graphic goat on your Sony play station instead, just like we send virtual hugs and kisses to friends over Facebook. Come on Guys and Girls….It’s time to start THINKING CREATIVELY!!!!!!
As a Christian, I believe that ” Thou shall not kill” does not apply to murder of one’s own kind but to ALL living beings.
We have to understand that Pain and suffering is not limited to human beings (Anyone who has a basic education in Biology knows this full well but pushes it aside and ignores this simple fact). It’s simple….All living beings feel pain. Just because animals do not have a voice to tell us this, does not give the right to touch them or harm them in any form. For Goodness sake, Leave these poor, defenseless creatures alone!!. One only has to look into their eyes to realise that they feel the sense of their approaching death and they feel a sense of immense helplessness and pain.
It is high time to put a STOP to all of this unnecessary animal suffering in the World.
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I would agree that during today’s time and age we should not be sacrificing animals, however I do understand the significance and obedience that was portrayed during the Biblical times( Old Testament) However, as a Christian, we know that Jesus Christ was the ultimate and final sacrifice for all mankind, and there is no need for this type of obedience anymore.
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Animals are never cruel to their prey, but humans are, well, inhuman
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ROFL@ Likewise, the slaughter of animals on Eid, a symbolism for the sacrifice of a mythological son in a medieval time, is equally cruel. Hundreds of millions of animals – goats, camels, donkeys.
DONKEYS?? where and when did you see “Donkey” Sacrifice on an EID ??? its good man, you’re a funny guy :), although the topic is serious.
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Dont miss the forest for the trees. Pick the essence, not the detail. But thanks for pointing out.
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I am of two minds reading this article, Pravin. I agree with you completely on the issue you are writing about, the ethical treatment of other animals besides us. However, some of your historical information given in support of the argument is poorly researched and incorrect.
Thanksgiving is not primarily a holiday arising from Christian traditions, though it does involve the consumption of meats. It is a National Holiday that is a continuation of a non-religious and much more ancient Harvest Festival (also called Harvest Home) practiced originally by some immigrants from England, most of whom also happened to be Christians. The only written account of the original Thanksgiving in 1621 does not even mention turkey! They ate duck, venison (brought by the natives), fish, and vegetables. There is no historical evidence of them going out the next day and killing the Wampanoag. What happened to them was decimation by diseases they were exposed to by contact with the Europeans, to which they had no immunity.
I have no idea where you got that story about the Spanish. The surrender of the Moors at Granada to which you refer was January 2, 1492, and there’s never been a November 25th holiday about it, nor one on January 2 either.
Americans eat meat far more out of cultural habits than because of religious practices. That doesn’t make it any more ethical to do so.
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@Invisitble Mikey… your constructive views are welcome on my post. As re the story on Spanish, the gist is what went on in the name of Thanking God in different cultures or geographies.
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Residents of a province of Denmark celebrate the festival of “Grindadrap” every year this day (23 Nov) by killing Pilot Whales. What kind of a celebration is this that involves an orgy of killing for “fun”? ( http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/255418/20111124/mass-whale-slaughter-faroe-islands-turns-sea.htm ).
also watch a “civilised” people of a highly developed country (Denmark) wading and enjoying in a sea of blood (http://ibnlive.in.com/news/snapshot-killing-of-pilot-whales-for-sport/205480-66.html)
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I will never be able to wrap my brain around any of sacrifice part of worship. .. the whole premise of it is just well, unfathomable.
As is the logic. OK so the creator made all this stuff to kick back on his throne and watch as we annihilate everything?
I think it all depends on who rasied you as to what your spiritual practices entail. .. I feel pretty blessed for having learned to be respectful of animals and thankful to them for providing sustenance. (I have no idea how I would behave if I’d been raised to believe otherwise. I would hope I’d still have the same empathy and caring feelings, but I don’t know. I just haven’t walked in anyone else’s shoes except the ones I’m wearing. . . so I don’t feel right judging the behavior of others. I do feel sad for everyone involved here though. The people who participate and the animals who suffer at their hands. It seems like a very scary and sad way to exist. But then I’m projecting my values based on my own set of nature/nurture circumstances.)
Personally I feel creeped out about other parts of my upbringing though. The catholicism, the transubstantiation. ..”Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” Yipes! Isn’t that human sacrifice?
Religion scares me, spirituallity on the other hand is about being thankful and joyful and celebrating life in its various forms.
Personally I don’t eat very much meat really because I sort of prefer plant-based proteins,, but I do like turkey for Thanksgiving. It’s good if you can get it from free range farmers, ones who practice ethical methods of farming, etc.
We are animals after all. ..I would expect to be mauled by hungry lions if I wandered into their campsite at dinnertime. It would suck, but it is either that, or the worms and bacteria. . .vultures. We are all consumed by something else in the end.
Peace. 🙂
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Thanks tessf for your comment. This post is not about vegetarianism, but about barbaric treatment during slaughter, about killing as a “celebration”. In the Denmark picture/article, I wonder which of them were the “beasts”? True, we are animals too, and fit for consumption. However, other animals kill swiftly only for sustenance or survival, while humans also kill animals for fun or sport or ritual or religious mumbo-jumbo before consuming them. That, to me, is cruelty.
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Exactly, every tradition might have had relevence in the past, it does not mean we need to follow it blindly…Understand the essence and update the ritual…make it symbollic…very nice blog…
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Thanks, Ankit.
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That is cruel , you cannot make animals suffer like this.
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