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Ancient Carthaginians did sacrifice their children (2014)

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Re: Ancient Carthaginians did sacrifice their children (2014)

#221

Child and human sacrifices were surprisingly common across the world. Many countries had to pass special laws to ban these practices - but it hasn't yet been rooted out.

Perhaps you could give some examples of where it still occurs, having not been rooted out. I'd be very interested as I'm not aware of any.

This is only from India but you can see such instances in Africa as well:

10-Year-Old Boy Killed By His Own Family in a Human Sacrifice Ritual There has been over 103 such ritualistic sacrifices in the 2014-2021 period: https://www.vice.com/en/article/7kx9pe/10-year-old-boy-human...

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/baby-sacrif... There is also adult human sacrifices:

There are actually temnples in India dedicated to human sacrifice. Kamakhya temple in Assam, India is infamous for that: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1908706.stm

There was a case from 2019 where a woman was sacrificed in this temple: https://news.abplive.com/crime/assam-human-sacrifice-kamakhy...

This is from April 2023. Five arrested over human sacrifice at Indian temple https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/05/indian-police-...

https://www.deccanherald.com/national/interactive-human-sacr...

Re: Ancient Carthaginians did sacrifice their children (2014)

#222
Great timing on empires who sacrifice children. Today this article about Instagram facilitating child sex trafficking was released. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/instagram-facilitates-vast... Mel Gibson is about to release a four part documentary about child sex trafficking and sacrifice. I expect to see a bunch of reminders of how Mel is antisemitic and such to gatekeep people from watching it.

Re: Ancient Carthaginians did sacrifice their children (2014)

#223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Strictly speaking, you see, it’s prayers that go up to the gods,” said the priest doubtfully. “As I understand it,” said Moist, “the gift of sausages are offered to Offler by being fried, yes? And the spirit of the sausages ascends unto Offler by means of the smell? And then you eat the sausages?” “Ah, no. Not exactly. Not at all,” said the young priest, who knew this one. “It might look like that to the uninitiated…

Brilliant. Where is this from?

Terry Pratchett. I think "Making Money".

Re: Ancient Carthaginians did sacrifice their children (2014)

#224

Great timing on empires who sacrifice children. Today this article about Instagram facilitating child sex trafficking was released. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/instagram-facilitates-vast... Mel Gibson is about to release a four part documentary about child sex trafficking and sacrifice. I expect to see a bunch of reminders of how Mel is antisemitic and such to gatekeep people from watching it.

[deleted]

Re: Ancient Carthaginians did sacrifice their children (2014)

#225
post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there an objective reason to find infanticide worse than abortion, besides cultural mores? It's worse for the performer, certainly, because you have to look at it before you kill it, but a newborn doesn't have any more personality than a fetus.

If an infant is able to survive outside of another person without being hooked up to modern medical equipment I would say there is a very big difference between it an something which cannot.

Would it be acceptable to you to surgically remove the arm of, say, a 10 week old fetus, on the grounds that it is not able to survive outside the womb and therefore is just a piece of the mother's body at that point?

Re: Ancient Carthaginians did sacrifice their children (2014)

#226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Violence and the Sacred is a book that tries to answer, among some other things, why ritual sacrifices used to happen. I haven’t finished it yet, René Girard could perhaps be a bit meandering, but it’s an insightful read so far (and impossible to do justice in a summary). He observes that in older human societies a transgression could easily lead to an infinite loop of vendetta-like bloodshed. He also observes that s…

This doesn’t pass the smell test. Many ancient cultures also ritually sacrificed warriors and nobility.

Any references, or we are supposed to go off your word? René Girard gives plenty in the book.

He also notes that sacrifice of an outcast is a thing, I think I mentioned it already: once a person is stripped of his or her membership in society, that person becomes a perfectly valid sacrificial scapegoat—no matter whether that person used to be a warrior or a noble.

Note also that, while we are talking about ritual sacrifice here, plain simple murder was as much of a thing back then. The two are very different things.

Re: Ancient Carthaginians did sacrifice their children (2014)

#227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If an infant is able to survive outside of another person without being hooked up to modern medical equipment I would say there is a very big difference between it an something which cannot.

Would it be acceptable to you to surgically remove the arm of, say, a 10 week old fetus, on the grounds that it is not able to survive outside the womb and therefore is just a piece of the mother's body at that point?

What would be the point of doing that? Let's go for something more relevant: would it be acceptable to you for me to force you to give a pint of blood every day to keep alive someone in a coma who could not live but for your blood?

Re: Ancient Carthaginians did sacrifice their children (2014)

#228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would it be acceptable to you to surgically remove the arm of, say, a 10 week old fetus, on the grounds that it is not able to survive outside the womb and therefore is just a piece of the mother's body at that point?

What would be the point of doing that? Let's go for something more relevant: would it be acceptable to you for me to force you to give a pint of blood every day to keep alive someone in a coma who could not live but for your blood?

What point do you need, isn't it a private matter to be decided only by the person who is housing the fetus?

But let's say there was a medical reason to do so for the sake of a child who was already born perhaps extremely premature and lost an arm in the process of extraction. By the standards given above, the already born child outranks the one still in the womb, and should be entitled to the arm if the owner of the womb agrees to donate it.

Your example is so far from relevance as to be really just an attempt to change the subject. The existence of some random person in a coma, unless they are my own child, or perhaps a clone, is not contingent upon actions undertaken with the participation (willing or not) of my reproductive system.

Re: Ancient Carthaginians did sacrifice their children (2014)

#229
post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You would be surprised: a child that was difficult to provide for and had no future of providing for you in your old age wasn't that hard to discard even 100 years ago.

Some people believe abortion is basically the same thing

…which it isn’t. We know that. Right?

Re: Ancient Carthaginians did sacrifice their children (2014)

#230
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Reading comments like this is so surreal. Millions of very normal, well-adjusted people around the world feel that God speaks to them. Have you literally never interacted with a religious person before, or are you just an idiot? My mother donates 10% of her income and volunteers at homeless shelters because she feels that God wants her to. Other than that she lives like pretty much everyone else. Oh no, so terrible!…

Yes, I have interacted with plenty of religious person,s this is where my personal stance and comment above are rooted. Yes, I know these people are well integrated into society. But this doesn't change my analysis. I consider religious nuts at least untrustworthy and in some cases outright dangerous to others. If someone spends his whole life in such an elaborate hallucination, nobody knows what they are capable of if an extraordinary situation happens to them. BTW, I had the pleasure of being sent to a catholic school for eight years. There, I learnt that church-goers and their minions are not to be trusted. BTW, I appreciate you calling me an idiot. Nothing else expected, that is why I keep away from your sorts.
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