The Law and Freedom of Religion.

Last  week I  was witness to a discussion on animal sacrifice. A very  delicate topic in my  mind, but I  was wrong in a conclusion that I  had. I  remember reading that  all  religions have the rights to  be practiced as long as they  follow the laws of the land. With  that  being said, Animal cruelty laws I  thought would ban animals sacrifice. I  was shown a supreme court ruling that allowed animal sacrifice because it was part of a religious practice.

This has so many  dangerous possibilities, that I had to  think  long and hard on how to  address this topic.  There is the US constitution that  says there shall  be no laws pertaining to  religion.  This is the one piece of paper that  protects our rights as non-Christians in the US society.  But at what  point does it allow bad things to happen in the name of religion. There are groups that  sacrifice  and then cook the animal that night as part of their ritual. Santeria being  probably  the most well known.  As long as the animal doesn't suffer and they do  actually eat the animal that  night, I  can accept them doing that  act.  I  am not the type that  would kill an animal unless it was a matter of survival.

What  happens if a group uses religion to molest children.  The Mormons are known to  marry off their girls at 14 years old. Warren Jeffs is going through trial for sexual misconduct with children.  But what if they  say it is part of their religious practice? In Iran a man can marry a 9 year old girl, it is defined in their quran. Where is the limit of freedom of religion and the start of criminal law?

What  bothered me the most with allowing animal sacrifices under freedom of religion is this. Most Serial killers start off by torturing and killing small  animals. When the thrill of small  animals dying is gone they  go  to  a bigger animal, and eventually start torturing and killing humans. What  happens if a serial killer uses his religious freedom to  cover for his mental issues and then starts killing humans.  It could have been prevented if there was crime committed and he had to  get tested by after his third or forth animal cruelty charge.  But then there is the other side of the sword.  What  if a christian dominated state congress passed a series of laws that made small  aspects of paganism illegal.  They  can then slowly make practicing paganism illegal by  outlawing certain traditions.

How can any  group of pagans  work  to  handle this situation? We have to  work to preserve all  branches of paganism and yet give paganism a positive  image.  The moment that  we exclude a group for anything, then we have lost what  we are working for. Other  Pagans would say  that   we are defining what is allowed and not allowed to  be a good pagan, which  we  all know would lead to massive in-fighting.Many  animal rights groups would fall swayed by  christian groups that  say  that  pagans sacrifice animals in blood rituals. But we know that  very  few pagans practice any  type of animal sacrifice.  If religious practice is used to  cover  a person's mental disorder, and he claims to be a pagan, then he can tarnish everything that  matters to us. This is something that  I  would like you to  think  about, and I  would like to  hear your take on this situation.