Posted on 07/31/2009 7:14:27 PM PDT by artichokegrower
A federal appeals court reversed a lower court's ruling on Friday that barred a Santeria priest from sacrificing goats in his Texas home, saying a city's decision to prohibit the ritual violated the man's religious rights.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/07/31/national/a171726D79.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0MtSRe1TN
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Where is PETA when you need them?
Santeria — that’s a bit like voodoo isn’t it?
This is so sickening. There is no excuse for animal abuse. Where is the humane society when it comes to this? I hope the decision will be appealed. Why would anyone in Texas want this weird man living near them? Recently, there was a story in Syracuse, NY where a muslim killed 2 goats that were living in the cellar of the house. What is happening to the USA? All of these awful third world animal abusers are barbaric.
Human sacrifice? Don’t we already have a lot of that? Isn’t that what Dr. Tiller was doing? The only difference is he was doing in the name of “choice,” and the guy is Texas is doing it in the name of a heathen “religion.”
What is Santeria?
Santeria or La Regla Lucumi is the secret and powerful religion originating in West Africa in what is now Nigeria and Benin, hailing from the traditional culture and worldview of the people now known as the Yoruba. The slave trade brought many of these people to the shores of Cuba, Brazil, Haiti, Trinidad and Puerto Rico among others. But along with the bodies being brought over for sale into a life of misery, something else was being brought along. Their souls. And their religion.
First of all, Santeria is not a ‘primitive’ religion. On the contrary, the Yorubas were and are a very civilized people with a rich culture and deep sense of ethics. We believe in one god known as Olorun or Olodumare. Olorun is the source of ashé, the spiritual energy that makes up the universe, all life and all things material.
Olorun interacts with the world and humankind through emissaries. These emissaries are called orishas. The orishas rule over every force of nature and every aspect of human life. They are approachable and can be counted on to come to the aid of their followers, guiding us to a better life materially as well as spiritually.
Communication between orishas and humankind is accomplished through ritual, prayer, divination and ebó or offerings (which includes sacrifice). Song, rhythms, and trance possession are also means with which we interact with the orishas and how we are able to affect our day to day lives so that they we may lead deeper and fuller lives during our stay in this world.
In the New World the orishas and much of the religion was hidden behind a facade of Catholicism with the orishas themselves represented by various saints. The slaveowners would then say “look at how pious this slave is. She spends all of her time worshipping Saint Barbara.” Unbeknownst to them, she would actually be praying to Shangó, the Lord of Lightning, fire and the dance, perhaps even praying for deliverance from that very slaveowner. This is how the religion came to be known as Santeria. The memory of this period of our history is also why many in our religion regard the term Santeria as a perjorative and derogatory.
Yum. I love goat.
You gotta respect the culture where you live. We Americans don’t like animal sacrifices. If I lived in New Delhi I wouldn’t open a McDonalds. You have to go along to get along.
Hey I didn’t write that Crap. found it under Santeria Religion.
Should have made that clear...Sorry.
Today the goats...tomorrow the kids.
I think there’s a rule that you can do it as long as you’re not a scrambling quarterback. Then, you go to jail and lose $100 million. OK, I get it.
I am no fan of cults. However, I do think you should have the right to slaughter a goat in your own home. Assuming there is no torture.
If evolutionism is legal in America there’s no reason why Voodoo or Santeria shouldn’t be.
Here's a quote from the article. You just can't make this stuff up.
In its ruling, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans
They’ve been sacrificing children for decades; they just use other words for the procedure.
So then why was a woman recently sent to prison for second degree murder when she and her husband refused to get their daughter treatment for diabetes because they believed God would fix it? BTW, the father is being tried for the same offense soon as well.
does JLo know about this and is this happening in her neighborhood?
If the Santeria method is equally or more humane than the slaughterhouse method then I think the court got this one right. If the Santeria guy is doing everything in the privacy of his own home, and the animal suffers no more pain than the average goat who winds up in the meat market, then I don't see how his ritual is any of the state's business.
What about sacrificing virgins? I bet there are some Aztec-ians wanting to do their thing, too. They’d better get this one right, right from the git-go.
Yeh, you should have made that clear. I was about to let you have it.
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