Animal Sacrifice

[Quintus Servilius Priscus]

Salve,

Over in the OP there is a conversation going on between Flavius Vedius and
a lady by the name of Maxima Valeria Messallina(she is a Vegan and a
Animal Right's follower) about animal sacrifice. She is dead set against any
animal sacrifice for any reason. What is our stand on such sacrifice's for
religious purposes(this is in case she leaves the OP and comes here).

Vale,

[Aulus Dionysius Mencius]

Salve Lentule

Apart from my opinion on animal sacrifice, I think that we should not be obliged to collectively denounce such sacrifices, or anything else for that matter, for a new member to join us. Everybody is entitled to have his or her own opinions, and they may well differ from other persons sentiments.

Personally, I would never participate in a sacrifice whatsoever, but when it comes to discussing ancient forms of religion where sacrifice was part of religious acting, that another matter. Modern opinion and ancient ritual may be difficult to reconcile...

In amicitia

[Quintus Aurelius Orcus]

Salvete Lentule at Mence

Animal sacrifice is somewhat of a controversial topic. The whole debate on the Hellenic Pagan yahoo! group demonstrated that. Anyway, everone has his or theirs opinion about animal sacrifice. I'm no vegan, I do eat meat because I think we need meat just as the rest, but I'm against animal sacrifices. The reason why I'm against it is because over the last sevral centuries we as a race have driven several species into extinction and alot more are following. I'm against it on the grounds that we kill enough animals already and we can use substitutes like the meat we buy in supermarkets or whatever to perform the sacrifice.
I think tha Coruncanius might agree with me that for legal reasons, we should not support animal sacrifice. For a religion that is a minority in this world, it would be illegal to sacrifice live animals to the Gods. I think I heard somewhere that there are religions who can perform such a sacrifice, but I doubt that Hellenismos or Religio Romano is one of them.
It is an interesing subject, because we see it all the time in mythological and historical sources. I think it might be interesting to dicuss this.
valete

Romulus

[Quintus Servilius Priscus]

Salvete,

I would not turn her away because of her beliefs. I was just curious as to
our stance on animal sacrifice for religious purposes. The thread about it
now has 46 e-mails in it and growing. Maxima Valeria Messallina's animal
right's stand could spell future trouble for the OP with outside organizations
(i.e. PETA). Especially if she gets mad enough to push the issue(hopefully,
she won't).

[Gnaeus Dionysius Draco]

Salve Lentule,

From the RF III.2a (emphasis mine)

Complete liberty of conscience and belief, and authority over personal and household rites and practices, pagan or otherwise, save that neither blood sacrifice, human or animal, nor bodily mutilation may be associated with the Societas or its religious teachings and practices either within the Societas or before the general public

Vale!
Draco

[Horatius Piscinus]

Salve Gnae Lentele

As Gnaeus Draco has shown, and you may pass on to Valeria, it has always been to official policy of SVR to prohibit animal sacrifices and mutilations in connection with any rites that would be associated with our societas. We discourage its practice in private rites. Advocating the use of animal sacrifice in modern societies on SVR's list would be a violation of our Regula Fundamentalis and could lead to some action by our aediles or praetores.

Some like Mencius, and I agree, recognize that animal sacrifices were part of the tradition at one time, and therefore it is a topic for historical discussion. The subject of animal sacrifice is not prohibited on our lists, nor is defending its application in private rites prohibitted. How far one could go in advocating animal sacrifice in modern private rites without violating our constitutional restraint is an open question because such a matter has never come up before. SVR affirms the rights of its members to conscious and free speech, but on this one issue, as clearly stated in our RF, there is set a limit of which all members must be aware, and all non-member visitors are expected to respect.

Valete optime

[Anonymous]

Salvete Omnes

It is clear that animal sacrifice was part of the Religio although I believe there was some controversy about this in ancient times as well. I'm thinking here of the Pythagorean influence on the Religio in the Regal period in particular.

Over all I think the issue has been well dealt with above but for the record I am totally opposed to blood sacrifice in any circumstances. I am conscious however that we vegetarians can be rather humourless about the whole issue and intolerant of contrary opinions. I trust that should any controversy flare up here we can deal with it in a more civilised fashion than the OP.

Valete

Brutus

[Horatius Piscinus]

Salvete Brute et omnes

I trust we can deal with any issue here in a more civil fashion.

For the record, I do not oppose blood sacrifices per se, if it is done properly and with respect to the animal. It was a practice of my family when I was a child. It was a practice in the tradition of the Religio Romana and if anyone wished to use it in the same manner as it was conducted traditionally then I would not argue against it. I would point out, too, that the practice is not illegal in the US, although if you did get a court to recognize your religious right to perform animal sacrifice as courts have for certain religious groups in the US, you would still risk violating local laws in most areas. However SVR has made a ruling on this subject that I fully support, and that too is strongly backed by the tradition of the Religio Romana. Also part of the tradition, which some may wish to consider, the pontifices did allow effigies of clay or bread to be substituted for sacrificial animals when someone like Varro had a religious objection to animal sacrifice. In a modern context I think the best practice is the one suggested before by our rector Romulus, Marius and myself, where one contribute to the purchase of an animal for a community in need. The address for the organization providing that service has been posted before in our collegium. Even if you are a vegetarian it is a worthy practice to consider since the animals are not used for slaughter (at least not most and you can choose what animals to purchase). It is a sacrifice for you, in keeping with Roman practices I might add, honors the Gods and our community, while providing a very worthy service to those who need it.

Valete optime