Talk:Human sacrifice

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these paragraphs have an ass-load of linked words, it harms readability. if someone really doesn't know what "mediaeval" is they can type it in themself, is my opinion.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.82.6.34 (talk • contribs) 24 June 2005 (UTC)

Throughout history dehumanizing victims, opponents, etc.., propaganda that demonizes those on the other side is quite common in order to justify atrocities committed by those who make these sorts of claims. Whether or not sacrifices occurred is debatable but the sheer numbers and frequency estimated by some of these interpretations are far-fetched and fanciful because if they were true these rituals would have wiped out a large portion of the population within a few years, in other words not realistically sustainable.

Considering the logistics that would also be required to house a large number of these prisoners and then being able to carry out the rituals, it would be a monumental task to put it lightly. In all likelihood it was probably hyperbolic propaganda to strike fear into their enemies, and not necessarily to be taken as a literal account of events.

The cause of death of the skeletons of people found in archeological discoveries could well have been due to natural causes that were later mutilated in religious ceremonies and rituals, is not necessarily evidence of human sacrifice.

Never-the-less in regards to claims that tens of thousands were sacrificed each year, these archeological discoveries, after many decades of searching and looking for evidence that corroborates them, only comprise a tiny percentage of those hyperbolic estimates which should elicit food for thought

folklore, antropology

I suggest to take also into account "The Highest Altar" by Patrick Tierny (Viking Penguin 1989). Tierny cites several Hebrew scholars on (pre-biblical?) human sacrifice (p.394 etc). The work turns to the bible as a research document, not as a set of irrelevant 'commands'. The book of Tierny also describes, convincingly, present day human sacrifice in Peru, both among villagers threaten by a flood and among drug trafficers before a big transaction. All by all it seems difficult to device a folkloric geography of human sacrifice based on written sources. One paragraph can colour centuries of a whole population, while the absence of proof is never a proof of absence... Maybe sacrifice has its origin in forefather cults of early farmers, while the value offered depends on the favour hoped for. Chicken are cheap, girls are expensive (Jephtah), boys even more (Abraham). If a modern state accepts to 'sacrifice' young men to keep borders intact, a primitive village might also accept to sacrifice a child to avoid a big loss of resources. This approach would make any research document relevant to specific socio-economic conditions, not to ethnic groups. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rafa2 (talk • contribs) 23 July 2006 (UTC)

POV/Religious partisanism

I don't have the time to rewrite it just now, but the section about human sacrifice in the Hebrew Bible is clearly biased towards Christianity/Judaism and does not reflect the conclusions of modern secular scholarship.

If this site is not to be known as "The LORD's very own Christian Wikipedia", this should change.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.238.3.12 (talk • contribs) 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Distinctions unclear?

I don't really understand the distinction between some of the cases of ritual sacrifice (especially the contemporary examples) and those of ritual murder. The former also seem to involve small groups engaging in practices regarded by wider society as (simple?) murder. What am I missing? 86.5.88.131 (talk) 02:19, 13 May 2023 (UTC)