Human Sacrifice Rationalization in 7th Grade Curriculum

San Diego County Office of Education ^ | Schools of California Online Resources for Educators (SCORE) Project

[mvpel]

Do you know what your kids are learning in school?

As part of a debate with apologists for the neck-sawing Islamic lunatics on the Grex.cyberspace.org bulletin board, I did some searching for Aztec human sacrifice information.

I was utterly stunned to find the article linked above, setting out a curriculum for a seventh grade social studies class covering the ancient Aztec culture prior to the arrival of the Spaniards.

One of the units of the curriculum is:

Students will read two versions about the Aztec Sun, complete a Venn diagram and visit web sites that provide background on Aztec religious beliefs and the practice of human sacrifice. They will write a persuasive letter taking the point of view of an [cannibalistic] Aztec noble or a Spanish missionary and create a cinquain poem.

Legend of the Fifth Sun
URL: fifthsun.html
Comments: Story file containing an explanation of the Aztec need for human sacrifice. [emphasis mine]

The Aztec Sun
URL: http://www.storymall.com/aztecsun/aztec.htm
Comments: Different version of the story about the Aztec sun.

The Aztec Rite of Human Sacrifice
URL: http://www.eecs.uic.edu/~agonzale/assignment3/page1.html
Comments: The text is designed for college students.

In ancient times, it was the Caananite culture that was so depraved and corrupt that it merited utter destruction by the command of G-d. In the 1500's and 1600's, when the Spaniards arrived to find 20,000 human beings being slaughtered atop pyramids every year by having their heart ripped out, that distinction fell to the Aztec culture which was subsequently destroyed, its adherents either converted away from their murderous, cannabalistic practices, or killed.

But in our present-day public schools, our 7th graders are being steeped in the worst possible kind of cultural relativism - that which suggests that slaughtering another human being in cold blood and eating the flesh of the corpse is a mere "cultural taboo" that can be rationalized and justified, instead of a fundamental and immutable violation of the law of G-d and nature.

I'm adding this page to my file of reminders of why I will never send any child I might ever have to a public school.

Here's one product of this kind of cultural relativism in school curriculi, a report written by a student at East Whittier Middle School which draws parallels between Christianity and the Aztec religion with an analogy to the death of your Christ and the Communion ritual:
Similarities with the Spanish and Aztec religions

I'm Jewish, and I find it rather offensive and repugnant, I can't imagine how a Catholic might react to it.

Here's a sample of a cultural relativist academic rationalizing Aztec human sacrifice:
Aztec Human Sacrifice

Do you know who's running your schools? Is it one of these academics? Don't you think you should find out?

[3catsanadog]

Just another way to subtly make kids feel sorry for the poor Aztecs who were slaughtered and all by the mean old Christian Spaniards.

[spycatcher]

The 9-11 twin towers attack was just high-tech human sarifice to Allah.

[dennisw]

Aztecs were the masters of human sacrifice until A Hitler and company came along.

[Cultural Jihad]

And the Aztecs invented flying machines and had telephones way before the Spaniards came. < /sarcasm>

Little Juan may not be able to read after graduating from public school, but at least he comes away with a whole lot of (unearned) self-respect.

[aristeides]

You can't have cultural relativism without finding some way to excuse Aztec human sacrifice. Trouble is, if you're going to excuse that, you're also going to have to find some way to excuse the Nazis and the Holocaust, and bin Laden and his Islamofascism

[xm177e2]

The politically correct crowd never looks at the Aztecs from the perspective of the OTHER Indians, the ones who were cruelly enslaved and ritually sacrificed. The Aztecs were evil, and their culture was evil. The Aztecs were weak because they were evil (the other Indians joined the Spaniards and rose up against them).

Just think of the Aztecs as being the "Mexican Taliban"

[Catspaw]

Aztecs were the masters of human sacrifice until A Hitler and company came along.

The Mayans weren't any slouches at human sacrifice, either.

[xm177e2]

Perhaps you also find this repugnant...

Jews are supposed to find that repugnant, the whole point is that G-d stops the execution because it is wrong, he's demanding Abraham think for himself. Because Abraham failed the test, G-d stopped speaking to him (G-d spoke to Abraham several times before the attempted sacrifice, but never afterwards).

[aristeides]

Little Juan may not be able to read after graduating from public school, but at least he comes away with a whole lot of (unearned) self-respect.

I don't see why Little Juan couldn't be taught to take pride in the Spanish part of his heritage. There are relatively few pure-blood Indians in Mexico. Most of the population is mestizo, i.e., mixed Indian and Spanish blood.

I'm Irish-American. I certainly take no pride in pre-Christian Celtic paganism, among other reasons because pre-Christian Celtic lands were also marred by religious human sacrifice. I only identify with Irish culture after the victory of Christianity, and I would think Mexicans -- who I understand are mainly strongly Catholic -- could do the same.

[glc1173@aol.com]

Revelations in a letter to the editor of the area "mainstream" daily (by a junior-high student!) of a "lifeboat ethics" minicourse were a major cause of the 2-to-1 defeat of a school-bond referendum in the Greensboro, North Carolina government schools within the past decade.

Know what your kids are being brainwashed with - if you can't get them out of the government schools totally!

East Stroudsburg government-school scandal

[Registered]

he's demanding Abraham think for himself. Because Abraham failed the test

On the contrary, Abraham passed with flying colors.

[meyer]

7th graders aren't ready for this kind of issue anyways. Plus, it really isn't within the realm of our schools to deal with this kind of stuff in the K-12 years anyways.

Maybe, maybe as a senior, but only in a balanced manner. At that point, the schools should report, the student should decide. And it should be reported not as an alternative to whatever beliefs the student has been given by their parents, but as a simple report of what Aztecs did. It is important to study history, but it is wrong to attach a cause. And, of course, it is wrong to only study it out of context.

[weegee]

In the interest of equal time, here is the rest of the story

[22:11] And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. [22:12] And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. [22:13] And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. [22:14] And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen. [22:15] And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, [22:16] And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: [22:17] That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; [22:18] And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. [22:19] So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. [22:20] And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor

[piasa]

Students will read two versions about the Aztec Sun, complete a Venn diagram and visit web sites that provide background on Aztec religious beliefs and the practice of human sacrifice. They will write a persuasive letter taking the point of view of an [cannibalistic] Aztec noble or a Spanish missionary and create a cinquain poem.

Actually, this, if done correctly, is a very good approach, much better than just telling kids "It's bad." Having students play Devil's advocate - which is essentially what a persuasive letter is, and offering them a choice of which side to take or making them test the issue from both sides, will make them think more carefully about their views on right and wrong. Playing Devil's advocate as pro-sacrifice does not mean you are sympathetic to human sacrifice, but it is good training and preparation for learning how to counter the viewppoint that such things are acceptable. People who play Devil's advocate learn to predict how the other side will respond in a real debate. They can see things from the other guy's perspective, without falling prey to it. Know thy enemy, as they say. There is no better way to know him than by mentally imagining yourself to be in his shoes.

The ACLU or some Pagans, on the other hand, will get upset because the kids could choose to take the missionary's part. They might complain that this violated their sacred views on separation of church and state, or forbid students from using arguments from the Bible as a missionary would.

The only problem with this comes in if a public school teacher tries to make the two views morally equivalent. Just having kids try to argue either side does not do that, since kids will debate it out and so, discover the truth. Kids aren't as stupid as some people think they are, BTW.

[D-fendr]

There are of course similarities, and I found one of your article links unobjectionable. However the one by the student shows a great lack of knowledge about catholocism in critical areas. I would hope the teacher points out these corrections.

As others have noted, human sacrifice was also present in the West in some cultures, quite often in matriarchical and land-based cultures. It was also done in the Middle East and as others have pointed out, early Judaism can be seen as stressing a move away from human sacrifice to animal and then, in Christianity to the paschal mystery in Jesus's self-sacrifice.

It's an interesting subject and I applaud comparative religious study at this level. It has to be carefully taught, though, as you point out.

[RightWhale]

But Abraham didn't sacrifice his son. That was the end of human sacrifice in that culture. Animal sacrifice ended later as well. In that culture.

[denydenydeny]

Story file containing an explanation of the Aztec need for human sacrifice.

I am speechless.

[weegee]

It's an interesting subject and I applaud comparative religious study at this level.

You state that it would need to be taught carefully but I'm unsure of if it could ever be implemented.

Do we teach that Jesus was crucified as Christians believe (not even getting into resurection or whether He was the Son of God in the classroom) or teach the Muslim belief that he was not killed?

Do we point-by-point counter "Christians believe this about Jesus but Muslims believe that, while some Jews believe...."?

Do we break it down further to "Catholics believe... while Baptists believe... while Presbyterians believe... while Methodists believe..."?

Do we learn about each of the cultural origins of each discipline of Christianity? Do we tie all of this to changes in the role in Judeo-Christian faith in the land of America?