{"id":357,"date":"2005-01-23T16:18:00","date_gmt":"2005-01-23T16:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=357"},"modified":"2005-01-23T16:18:00","modified_gmt":"2005-01-23T16:18:00","slug":"357","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=357","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Killing for the gods<\/strong><\/p>\n

The idea promoted by writers such as Jonathan Kirsch<\/a> that polytheists are less likely to wage religious warfare than monotheists (including, for instance, Communism as “secular monotheism”) does not mean that polytheistic societies had no religious violence.<\/p>\n

Consider the new evidence<\/a> from forensic anthropologists that not only the Aztecs but also the “peaceful” Mayans indeed engaged in large-scale human sacrifice, including children.<\/p>\n

Using high-tech forensic tools, archaeologists are proving that pre-Hispanic sacrifices often involved children and a broad array of intentionally brutal killing methods.<\/em><\/p>\n

For decades, apologists for these cultures have blamed the Spanish for their so-called propaganda about the “peaceful” Indians whom the Spanish just wanted to conquer and enslave. Certainly the Spanish conquistadores<\/em> committed plenty of atrocities, recorded and protested at the time by those priests and laymen who objected to them. But the Spanish also recorded what they saw in Aztec society.<\/p>\n

I once wrote a paper for a graduate seminar with Dav\u00edd Carrasco<\/a> arguing that, again contrary to the apologists’ view, the Spanish reports of self-mutilation, bloodletting, and self-flagellation by the Aztec priests were probably correct. I quoted Ignatius Loyola<\/a> and other Catholic religious who advocated self-flagellation, for example, to argue that the Spanish knew these practices when they saw them.<\/p>\n

Prof. Carrasco is quoted in the article. I take no credit for shaping his thinking. The man has an ego the size of El Templo Mayor<\/a> all by himself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Killing for the gods The idea promoted by writers such as Jonathan Kirsch that polytheists are less likely to wage religious warfare than monotheists (including, for instance, Communism as “secular monotheism”) does not mean that polytheistic societies had no religious violence. Consider the new evidence from forensic anthropologists that not only the Aztecs but also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s6xQTg-357","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8780,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8780","url_meta":{"origin":357,"position":0},"title":"When Pagans Fought Back and Won (Sort of)","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 29, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Today's Pagans, particularly those who inspired by an ancient polytheistic tradition, often wonder why their Pagan ancestors gave up their beliefs. It's a complicated story. Some, like the Saxons conquered by Charlemagne, were in a convert-or-die situation, and thousands died. Sometimes, as in the Roman West, you get the feeling\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Arizona\"","block_context":{"text":"Arizona","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=arizona"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/greatpueblorevolt.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12118,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=12118","url_meta":{"origin":357,"position":1},"title":"“And even Wicca”: A Historical Study of Santa Muerte","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"March 23, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"An anthropologist and a historian examine the development of the cult of Santa Muerte (Holy Death) in this article, \"Syncretic Santa Muerte: Holy Death and Religious Bricolage,\" which currently is a free download. \"Bricolage\" is a term beloved by scholars of new religious movements. It means building something with available\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/santa_muerte-226x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1010,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1010","url_meta":{"origin":357,"position":2},"title":"The Inquisition in New Mexico","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 26, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This ruined church, Nuestra Se\u00f1ora de La Purisima Concepci\u00f3n de Cuarac, stands at the edge of the Southern Plains, southeast of Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is one of three large mission churches built in the early 1600s by forced labor from the Indians who lived at the adjacent villages. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chascli-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000FA4V5A","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":727,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=727","url_meta":{"origin":357,"position":3},"title":"Gallimaufry","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 30, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"An occasional blog stew.--Yvonne Aburrow, writer, blogger, and Web developer, has created a Pagan theologies wiki, with this entry on \"conversion\" as understood in Paganism and some parallel academic theory.--Oral traditions--literary, religious, folkloric, and other--are the focus of the Journal of Oral Tradition, now online with downloadable PDF files of\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12407,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=12407","url_meta":{"origin":357,"position":4},"title":"Polyamory, Silverware, and the “Second Generation” Problem","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 5, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"In the pre-Civil War era, upstate New York produced several new religious movements, the best-known of which is now headquartered in Salt Lake City. The Oneida community is less well-known \u2014 except to people who study such movements. Like the Shakers, they combined a communal lifestyle and self-sufficiency through agriculture\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":790,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=790","url_meta":{"origin":357,"position":5},"title":"Fundie art and sex","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"January 12, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I knew Jeff Sharlet from Killing the Buddha and his great Harper's piece on New Life Church in Colorado Springs. It turns out that he has a quirky personal blog too: Call Me Ishmael.Check out his comments on Christian fundamentalist art.My tentative theory: As religious art traditionally uses eroticism to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"art\"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}