“that said, human sacrifice was common in europe before christianity.”
Actually, human sacrifice and cannibalism was done in the name of Christianity.
The realities of history are being denied and ignored.
http://ftarchives.net/foote/crimes/c9.htm
How about this howler in the 1st paragraph --- "The Christians were brought face to face with a civilisation superior to their own; their eyes were dazzled by the light of Arabian learning, and the mental ferment which succeeded in Europe led to ..... the growth of philosophy and scepticism, .... in turn led to the French Revolution, which sounded the death knell of Feudalism, and to the Freethought of Voltaire, which pierced the heart of Superstition".
LOL!!!! By comparison, Mr. "Openurmind" - you make Omar-Ilhan look like an anti-Muslim Christian apologist. (The French Revolution being held up for adulation?????)
And for your information, the links to "Crusaders practicing cannibalism" seem to all point to one incident - the siege of Ma'arra, where starving Crusaders were surrounded by bodies of those killed when they earlier took the city. The incident, even if true, would have been an Alferd Packer-ish "last resort to save your life" type of cannibalism. And as to whether any starving Crusaders actually did cook body parts from dead bodies, even Wikipedia - not exactly known as a hotbed of pro-Christian sentiment - casts serious doubt on whether it did happen - since the main chronicler of this accusation, a European, wasn't even on the 1st Crusade, while OTOH all the contemporary Muslim chroniclers, who were a lot closer to the action, didn't make any mention of it - which would be an incredible omission to leave out an event that makes your enemy look very bad.
Hey Openurmind, as long as you're on such a roll here, why don't you dig up for us some other ancient screeds describing how Jews in Medieval Europe poisoned wells and drank murdered children's blood?
You sound like the victim of too much Hollywood propaganda (most likely the abominable "Kingdom of Heaven" movie), or a victim of a modern American Institute of Higher Education, or both.
If you really want to go there, the story of the crucifixion and communion has been interpreted as a metaphorical form of sacrifice and cannibalism.