Animal Sacrifice - African Traditional Religions

African Traditional Religions

In African Traditional Religions (ATRs), animal sacrifice is regularly practiced. In New World versions of these religions, such as or Lucmi, such animal offerings constitute a portion of what are termed "ebos" – ritual activities that include offerings, prayer and deeds. The blood of the animals is thought to hold "aché", or life force.

Animal sacrifice is also found in the Cuban religion called Palo, which derives from African religion of the Congo, and in Haitian Vodou, a religion that derives from the Vodou religion of Dahomey.

Animal sacrifice is also found in the Talensi tribe from Ghana, Africa. Their animal sacrifice ritual is practiced for their ancestors, with each family having their own sacrificial pit. The more sacrificial skull remains on top of a pit signifies the more respected families. Once a sacrifice has taken place, the family of the ancestor receives the majority of the sacrificed animal to eat. The type of animal, size, and color all have different meanings and some are valued more than others.

The landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of the Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah in 1993 upheld the right of Santeria adherents to practice ritual animal sacrifice in the United States of America. Likewise in Texas in 2009, legal and religious issues that related to animal sacrifice, animal rights and freedom of religion were taken to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Jose Merced, President Templo Yoruba Omo Orisha Texas, Inc., v. City of Euless. The court ruling that the Merced case of the freedom of exercise of religion was meritorious and prevailing and that Merced was entitled under the Texas Religious Freedom and Restoration Act (TRFRA) to an injunction preventing the city of Euless, Texas from enforcing its ordinances that burdened his religious practices relating to the use of animals, (see Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 110.005(a)(2)).

Read more about this topic:  Animal Sacrifice

Famous quotes containing the words african, traditional and/or religions:

    The African race evidently are made to excel in that department which lies between the sensuousness and the intellectual—what we call the elegant arts. These require rich and abundant animal nature, such as they possess; and if ever they become highly civilised, they will excel in music, dancing and elocution.
    Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896)

    In abnormal times like our own, when institutions are changing rapidly in several directions at once and the traditional framework of society has broken down, it becomes more and more difficult to measure any type of behavior against any other.
    John Dos Passos (1896–1970)

    All religions have based morality on obedience, that is to say, on voluntary slavery. That is why they have always been more pernicious than any political organisation. For the latter makes use of violence, the former—of the corruption of the will.
    Alexander Herzen (1812–1870)