One of my default jokes involves the sacrifice of chickens. Heck, I made a chicken-sacrificing joke just the other day in relation to Rex Grossman.
Regardless of my propensity to talk about the subject, I have never witnessed or been any part of the sacrifice of any animal, and intend to keep it that way.
Not everyone in our little DFW Metroplex of Love feels the same way.
Apparently, a group following the Santeria religion would like to practice animal sacrifice in the suburb of Euless. And, since there's not much of importance happening in the world lately, it's become a topic of some debate here locally.
Some points raised on both sides:
How are the Santerians (?) any different from the rest of us, who have animals slaughtered for us upstream in the food supply?
Is this a bit of animal cruelty?
What about freedom to practice religion?
What about the rights of the neighbors to not have animal sacrifices going on next door?
What does this do to property values?
I guess where I come down, as I often do, is not so much on the rights of the principals in the story. The Santerians are, I suppose, free to worship within bounds. But, my sympathies lie with the neighbors. I don't want animal sacrifices in the house next door or down the street. I also don't want the group who worships old Chevy's up on blocks in the front yard in my neighborhood, or the characters who celebrate National Blow Stuff Up Day, profess their love for their Saviour by spray-painting their landscapping in the Day-Glo palette, or celebrate the harvest by filling their swimming pool with Venezuelan Beaver Cheese.
It just seems to me that we get all caught up in the whole "the government can't tell ME what to do" thing, and lose sight of the reasons the "government" wants you to do or not do it in the first place.
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