Too much About human sacrifice.

[Craig Berry]

On Sun, 25 Jul 1999 ECOLING at aol.com wrote:

> I have absolutely no question that human sacrifice was
> practiced by Aztecs and by others,

Agreed.  The only credible questions concern quantities and motivations,
in my view.

> including for that matter Europeans, and that it was part of religious
> cosmology as well as part of real power politics, just as it is for us
> (compare the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, central to Christian religion,
> especially visual in Catholic churches).

That's an odd case to cite.  Christianity turned Jesus's crucifixion into
a sacrifice (= "to make sacred") post facto; at the time, the Roman
authorities considered it a combination of political execution with a
little "state terrorism".

The intriguing thing to me is that, in my reading of Mexica history, it
looks like their use of sacrifice started out being almost purely
religious (true "sacrifice"), but as they came into greater power they
began to use it increasingly as a weapon of state terrorism -- that is,
large, very public, very well-advertised mass "sacrifices" used as a
warning to subject peoples to keep in line.  A demonstration of power, in
other words.  The religious forms and reasoning were maintained, of
course.  And again, this is simply my impression of the matter.

> The problem with this thread is that it represents an
> ever-recurring distortion of the nature of any society
> to focus only on what is controversial or sensational,

I disagree.  We've had threads focussing on such sensational and
controversial topics as New World onions and the meaning of the word
Teotihuacan.  It's hardly like we're talking about nothing but sacrifice.
And sacrifice was a central and intriguing element of the Aztec way of
life.

> and since there are living descendants of the Aztecs,
> I believe it is a violation of their human rights as well.
> Painting them thus.  Inevitably it does so.

Oh, come on.  My ancestors murdered Saracens in Palestine, kept slaves in
North America, killed off most of the native Americans, and so on and on.
I'm not proud of this aspect of my ancestry, but it's not a violation of
my civil rights if someone talks about it.

--
   |   Craig Berry - cberry at cinenet.net
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