High time the world prohibited ALL ritual sacrifices, whatever the faith (or at least declared them morally repugnant).

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]o the disgrace of an enlightened and compassionate humanity, in animal sacrifices, public “festivals” and even common “entertainment” (in which animal torture and subjugation are seen as perfectly normal),   the large-scale brutalization of non-human, fully sentient creatures is still permitted and even required by the most backward sectors of several religions and cultures around the world.  As we might expect, those cultures still more deeply stuck in medievalism and conservative traditions exhibit the worst dimensions of animal sacrifice and insensitivity to the animals’ pain. To their shame, and in direct contradiction of the believers’ claim that their deities and prophets are not only almighty but compassionate, Islam, Hinduism, Orthodox Judaism, Santeria, Catholicism, and scores of other cults and faiths endorse such practices.

A bull bled heavily

Bullfights and Holiday festivals in Spain (most endorsed by the local Catholic parishes, defended as defining “Spanish” culture, and now under vigorous attack by animal rights campaigners). Bullfights, and the celebratory lore surrounding this spectacle, along with hundreds of festivals throughout Spain involving the murder and torture of animals, from bulls, to chickens and goats, has long been an embarrassment to the rest of Europe, although the “traditions” have been unthinkingly glamorized by Hollywood and prominent writers, iccluding Hemingway. 

Kaporos, etc (Jewish). The three “Judeo-Christian/Ibrahamic” religions are notorious for their deeply embedded dominionist posture.  In practice, and not due to any moral improvement, the Jewish faith no longer permits animal sacrifices, per se, something at one time required of followers of the Torah.  According to Jewish precepts it was only permitted and obligatory to bring (animal) sacrifices to the Holy Temple, but when this was destroyed, with no sanctified place available, the sacrifices of animals stopped.  The complicated situation is explained thusly: 

“When the First Holy Temple was destroyed, there was no place to bring sacrifices. It was, in fact, forbidden to bring sacrifices, since there was no Temple. We then asked Hashem, how will we attain atonement? Hashem said, through Hosea: “Take words with you and return to Hashem. Say to Him, ‘Forgive all sin and accept the good we do. We will offer prayer instead of animals” (Hosea 14:3).

And King solomon also teaches us, “He who conceals his sins will not succeed, but he who confesses and abandons them will obtain mercy” (Proverbs 28:13). While it is true that there is more to repentance than that, anyone who follows those two basic instructions — confess your sin to Hashem and stop committing the sin — Hashem will have mercy on that person.

So, where it is impossible to bring sacrifices, we can be forgiven through repentance, confession and prayer. But when it is possible to bring sacrifices, we are required to, and we must. As King David prophesied, “Do good, as You see fit, to Zion. May You rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Then will You desire the sacrifices brought by the righteous, burnt offerings and whole offerings; bullocks will then be offered upon Your altar” (Psalms 51:20-21).

After seventy years of Babylonian Exile, just as the Prophet Daniel had promised, the exile ended. Many Jews returned to the Holy Land, and we once again built the Holy Temple. And still it was forbidden to bring sacrifices anywhere else.

420 years later, the Holy Temple was destroyed again, this time by the Romans. Once again, we were in exile. This time, the Rabbis told us, the exile will last very long, and no end date is known.

And when the Messiah comes, the Holy Temple will be rebuilt, and once again we will bring sacrifices on the Holy Altar there, as it says “And the sacrificial offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to Hashem, like in the olden days years ago” (Malachi 3:4). (Source: BeingJewish.com)

GadhiMai (Hinduism/Nepal). Recently banned. This hideous festival involved the killing of hundreds of thousands of animals in honor of a blood-thirsty Goddess.  (See, for example, At long last: From now on, no more animal sacrifice at Nepal’s Gadhimai festival).

Eid (Islam/All Islamic nations: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, ISIL, Iraq, etc.)

Eid al-Adha, also known as “Bakr Id,” “Feast of the Sacrifice” and “Greater Eid,” is celebrated to commemorate the willingness of Prophet Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Ishmael as an act of submission to Allah (God). Muslims sacrifice sheep, lambs, cows and camels to remember Ibrahim’s devotion.

As usual, it does not occur to these people that the most elementary thinking would highlight the sheer moral bankruptcy of having another sentient, totally innocent, animal, be forced to stand in and pay with her life, for the humans’ supposed “sacrifice” to a cruel God. 

Most unfortunately, many PC liberals (not to mention conservatives, for their own reasons), and the normal cowardice and opportunism of politicians, oppose any state acts to outlaw such rites in the name of “cultural respect.” Complicating matters even further, the longstanding criminality of our foreign policy, which has marked the Middle East and Muslims in general for savage repression, destroying and disrupting with abandon many of their nations, has erased any moral standing the West might have had to frown on such customs. Lastly, as long as humanity continues to allow the massive, phenomenal torture and killing of animals for food in the name of business, “necessity,” or as a (literally) God-given right (dominionism), the cancellation of these horrid practices will be an uphill struggle. Indeed, massive hog and chicken production are now enormous threats to the environment.  Factory farming is on a par with CO2 emissions as a factor in global warming. This is no longer about just compassion—always welcome—but of being consistent with a revolutionary overhaul of society for the sake of the planet itself.

Moscow bans Islamic sacrifice of fully-conscious animals for upcoming Muslim holiday of Eid (2014)
http://www.barenakedislam.com/2014/10/04/yes-moscow-bans-islamic-sacrifice-of-fully-conscious-animals-for-upcoming-muslim-holiday-of-eid/