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**[[human sacrifice]]
**[[human sacrifice]]
**violent [[initiation rites]]
**violent [[initiation rites]]
**arguably,{{Fact|date=August 2008}} [[witch-hunt]]s
*arguably,{{Fact|date=August 2008}} for the conspiracy theory involving vast networks of paedophiles abusing children see [[satanic ritual abuse]]
==Religious violence==
==Religious violence==
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The most obvious case of religiously motivated physical abuse is [[human sacrifice]].
The most obvious case of religiously motivated physical abuse is [[human sacrifice]].


[[Archaeology]] has uncovered physical evidence of [[child sacrifice]], the ritualistic killing of children in order to please [[supernatural]] beings, at several locations.<ref name="Hardness">{{cite book | last = Milner | first = Larry S. | title = Hardness of Heart / Hardness of Life: The Stain of Human Infanticide | publisher = University Press of America | year = 2000}}<!-- pp. 16-22 --></ref> Some of the best attested examples are the diverse rites which were part of the religious practices in [[Mesoamerica]] and the [[Inca Empire]].<ref> {{cite journal | last = Reinhard | first = Johan | coauthors = Maria Stenzel
[[Archaeology]] has uncovered physical evidence of [[child sacrifice]], the ritualistic killing of children in order to please [[supernatural]] beings, at several locations.<ref name="Hardness">{{cite book | last = Milner | first = Larry S. | title = Hardness of Heart / Hardness of Life: The Stain of Human Infanticide | publisher = University Press of America | year = 2000}}<!-- pp. 16-22 --></ref> Some of the best attested examples are the diverse rites which were part of the religious practices in [[Mesoamerica]] and the [[Inca Empire]].<ref> {{cite journal | last = Reinhard | first = Johan | coauthors = Maria Stenzel | title = A 6,700 metros niños incas sacrificados quedaron congelados en el tiempo | journal = [[National Geographic]] | pages = 36–55 |month=November | year=1999}} </ref><ref>[http://www.exn.ca/mummies/story.asp?id=1999041452 Discovery Channel The mystery of Inca child sacrifice]</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = de Sahagún | first = Bernardino | authorlink = Bernardino de Sahagún | title = [[Florentine Codex|''Florentine Codex: History of the Things of New Spain'']], 12 books and 2 introductory volumes | publisher = University of Utah Press, translated and edited by Arthur J.O. Anderson and Charles Dibble | date = 1950-1982 | location = Utah | pages = | url = | doi = | id =}}</ref> [[Alice Miller]], [[Lloyd deMause]], psychologist Robert Godwin and other advocates of children's rights have written about pre-Columbian sacrifice within the framework of [[child abuse]].<ref name="EMOL">{{cite book | last = deMause | first = Lloyd | authorlink = Lloyd deMause | title = The Emotional Life of Nations
⚫
| publisher = Karnak | year = 2002 | location = NY, London | pages = }}</ref><!--pp. 312, 374, 410 --><ref name="OneCosmos"> {{cite book | last = Godwin | first = Robert W. | title = One cosmos under God | publisher = Paragon House | year = 2004 | location = Minnesota | pages = }}</ref><!--pp. 168f --><ref>{{cite book | last = Miller
| title = A 6,700 metros niños incas sacrificados quedaron congelados en el tiempo | journal = [[National Geographic]] | pages = 36–55 |month=November | year=1999}} </ref><ref>[http://www.exn.ca/mummies/story.asp?id=1999041452 Discovery Channel The mystery of Inca child sacrifice]</ref><ref>{{cite book
⚫
| first = Alice | title = Breaking down the walls of silence | publisher = Dutton/[[Penguin Books]]
| last = de Sahagún | first = Bernardino | authorlink = Bernardino de Sahagún | title = [[Florentine Codex|''Florentine Codex: History of the Things of New Spain'']], 12 books and 2 introductory volumes | publisher = University of Utah Press, translated and edited by Arthur J.O. Anderson and Charles Dibble | date = 1950-1982 | location = Utah | pages = | url = | doi = | id =}}</ref> [[Alice Miller]], [[Lloyd deMause]], psychologist Robert Godwin and other advocates of children's rights have written about pre-Columbian sacrifice within the framework of [[child abuse]].<ref name="EMOL">{{cite book | last = deMause | first = Lloyd | authorlink = Lloyd deMause | title = The Emotional Life of Nations
⚫
| year = 1991 | pages = 91 | location = NY}}</ref>
⚫
| publisher = Karnak | year = 2002 | location = NY, London | pages = }}</ref><!--pp. 312, 374, 410 --><ref name="OneCosmos"> {{cite book | last = Godwin | first = Robert W. | title = One cosmos under God | publisher = Paragon House
| year = 2004 | location = Minnesota | pages = }}</ref><!--pp. 168f --><ref>{{cite book
| last = Miller
| first = Alice
⚫
| title = Breaking down the walls of silence
| publisher = Dutton/[[Penguin Books]]
| year = 1991
| pages = 91
| location = NY}}</ref>


[[Plutarch]] (ca. 46–120 AD) mentions the practice of the [[Carthage|Carthaginian]] ritual burning of small children, as do [[Tertullian]], [[Orosius]], [[Diodorus Siculus]] and [[Philo]]. [[Livy]] and [[Polybius]] do not. The [[Hebrew Bible]] also mentions what appears to be child sacrifice practiced at a place called the [[Tophet]] ("roasting place") by the [[Canaanite]]s, and by some Israelites.<ref>{{cite book | last = Brown | first = Shelby | title = Late Carthaginian Child Sacrifice and Sacrificial Monuments in their Mediterranean Context
[[Plutarch]] (ca. 46–120 AD) mentions the practice of the [[Carthage|Carthaginian]] ritual burning of small children, as do [[Tertullian]], [[Orosius]], [[Diodorus Siculus]] and [[Philo]]. [[Livy]] and [[Polybius]] do not. The [[Hebrew Bible]] also mentions what appears to be child sacrifice practiced at a place called the [[Tophet]] ("roasting place") by the [[Canaanite]]s, and by some Israelites.<ref>{{cite book | last = Brown | first = Shelby | title = Late Carthaginian Child Sacrifice and Sacrificial Monuments in their Mediterranean Context | publisher = Sheffield Academic Press | year = 1991 | location = Sheffield | pages = | url = | doi = | id =}}</ref>
| publisher = Sheffield Academic Press | year = 1991
⚫
| location = Sheffield | pages = | url = | doi = | id =}}</ref>


Throwing children to the sharks was performed in ancient [[Hawaii]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Davies | first = Nigel | title = Human Sacrifice in History and Today | publisher = William Morrow & Co. | year = 1981 | location = NY | pages = 192}}</ref>
Throwing children to the sharks was performed in ancient [[Hawaii]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Davies | first = Nigel | title = Human Sacrifice in History and Today | publisher = William Morrow & Co. | year = 1981 | location = NY | pages = 192}}</ref>
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{{main|Psychohistorical views on infanticide}}
{{main|Psychohistorical views on infanticide}}


A minority of academics subscribe to a school of thought named [[psychohistory]]. They attribute the abusive rituals to the [[psychopathology|psychopathological]] [[projection (psychology)|projection]] of the perpetrators, especially of the parents.<ref name="EMOL"/><!-- pp. 258-262 --><ref name="OneCosmos"/><!-- pp. 124-176 --> It has been alleged that abuse may occur during religious rituals.<ref>{{cite book |chapter = The extreme abuse surveys: Preliminary findings regarding dissociative identity disorder |last = Becker | first = T |coauthors = Karriker W; Overkamp B; Rutz, C |year = 2008 |pages= 3249| title= Forensic aspects of dissociative identity disorder |editors =Sachs, A; Galton, G.(Eds) | publisher = Karnac Books | location =London | isbn =1855755963}}</ref><ref>Rutz, C. Becker, T., Overkamp, B. & Karriker, W. (2008). Exploring Commonalities Reported by Adult Survivors of Extreme Abuse: Preliminary Empirical Findings pp. 31 84 in {{cite book | last =Noblitt | first =J.R. | coauthors =Perskin, P. S. (eds) | title = Ritual Abuse in the Twenty first Century: Psychological, Forensic, Social and Political Considerations | publisher =Robert Reed | date =2008 | location = Bandor, OR | pages =552 | isbn =1934759120}}</ref><ref>[http://extremeabusesurvey.net/survey.php?en=b Extreme Abuse Survey results]</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Cult and Ritual Abuse: Its History, Anthropology, and Recent Discovery in Contemporary America|last= Randall |first= James|coauthors=Pamela Sue Perskin|year=2000|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|pages=229 |url =http://www.questia.com/read/27225017 | isbn = 0-275-95281-9}}</ref><ref>[http://www.rainfo.org/library/programming/noblitt.shtml An Empirical Look at the Ritual Abuse Controversy - Randy Noblitt, PhD]</ref>
A minority of academics subscribe to a school of thought named [[psychohistory]]. They attribute the abusive rituals to the [[psychopathology|psychopathological]] [[projection (psychology)|projection]] of the perpetrators, especially of the parents.<ref name="EMOL"/><!-- pp. 258-262 --><ref name="OneCosmos"/><!-- pp. 124-176 -->


This "psychohistorical" model makes several claims: that childrearing in [[Tribal society|tribal societies]] included child sacrifice or high infanticide rates, [[incest]], body [[mutilation]], child [[rape]] and [[torture]]s, and that such activities were culturally acceptable.<ref>{{cite book |last=deMause |first=Lloyd |authorlink=Lloyd deMause|title=Foundations of Psychohistory |url= |format=|accessdate= |accessyear= |accessmonth= |edition= |series= |date= |year=1982 |month=January |publisher=Creative Roots Publishing |location= |language= |isbn=094050801X |oclc= |doi= |id= |pages=132-146|quote=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Rascovsky | first = A. | title = Filicide: The Murder, Humiliation, Mutilation, Denigration and Abandonment of Children by Parents | publisher = [[Jason Aronson|Aronson]] | year = 1995 | location = NJ | pages = 107}}</ref>
This "psychohistorical" model makes several claims: that childrearing in [[Tribal society|tribal societies]] included child sacrifice or high infanticide rates, [[incest]], body [[mutilation]], child [[rape]] and [[torture]]s, and that such activities were culturally acceptable.<ref>{{cite book |last=deMause |first=Lloyd |authorlink=Lloyd deMause|title=Foundations of Psychohistory |url= |format=|accessdate= |accessyear= |accessmonth= |edition= |series= |date= |year=1982 |month=January |publisher=Creative Roots Publishing |location= |language= |isbn=094050801X |oclc= |doi= |id= |pages=132-146|quote=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Rascovsky | first = A. | title = Filicide: The Murder, Humiliation, Mutilation, Denigration and Abandonment of Children by Parents | publisher = [[Jason Aronson|Aronson]] | year = 1995 | location = NJ | pages = 107}}</ref>

Revision as of 22:52, 4 January 2009

The term religious abuse may refer to

Religious violence

Main article: religious violence

Human sacrifice

Main articles: Child sacrifice and Child sacrifice in pre-Columbian cultures

The most obvious case of religiously motivated physical abuse is human sacrifice.

Archaeology has uncovered physical evidence of child sacrifice, the ritualistic killing of children in order to please supernatural beings, at several locations.[2] Some of the best attested examples are the diverse rites which were part of the religious practices in Mesoamerica and the Inca Empire.[3][4][5] Alice Miller, Lloyd deMause, psychologist Robert Godwin and other advocates of children's rights have written about pre-Columbian sacrifice within the framework of child abuse.[6][7][8]

Plutarch (ca. 46–120 AD) mentions the practice of the Carthaginian ritual burning of small children, as do Tertullian, Orosius, Diodorus Siculus and Philo. Livy and Polybius do not. The Hebrew Bible also mentions what appears to be child sacrifice practiced at a place called the Tophet ("roasting place") by the Canaanites, and by some Israelites.[9]

Throwing children to the sharks was performed in ancient Hawaii.[10]

Sacrificial victims were often infants. "The slaughtering of newborn babies may be considered a common event in many cultures" including "the Eskimos, the Polynesians, the Egyptians, the Chinese, the Scandinavians, the Africans, the American Indians" and up to recent times "the Australian aboriginals".[11]

Initiation rites

Main article: Initiation rite

Artificial deformation of the skull predates written history and dates back as far as 45,000 BCE, as evidenced by two Neanderthal skulls found in Shanidar Cave.[12] It usually began just after birth for the next couple of years until the desired shape had been reached. It may have played a key role in Egyptian and Mayan societies.[13]

In China some boys were castrated. Both penis and scrotum were cut.[14] Other ritual actions have been described by anthropologists. Géza Róheim wrote about initiation rituals performed by Australian natives in which adolescent initiates were forced to drink blood.[15] Ritual rapes, in which young virgins are raped, have been part of shamanistic practices.[16]

Persistence of the practices

In some tribes rituals of Papua New Guinea, an elder "picks out a sharp stick of cane and sticks it deep inside the boy's nostrils until he bleeds profusely into the stream of a pool, an act greeted by loud war cries."[17] Afterwards, when boys are initiated into puberty and manhood, they are expected to perform fellatio to the elders. "Not all initiates will participate in this ceremonial homosexual activity, but in about five days later several will have to perform fellatio several times."[17]

Female genital cutting has also been practiced in ritualized contexts in Sub-Saharan Africa; in some regions of the Middle East, and in Southeast Asia.[dubious – discuss]

Witch-hunts

Further information: Witch-hunt

Ritualistic abuse may also involve children accused, and beaten, for being purported witches in some Central African areas, for example a young niece may be blamed for the illness of a relative.[18] [dubious – discuss]

Psychological explanations

Main article: Psychohistorical views on infanticide

A minority of academics subscribe to a school of thought named psychohistory. They attribute the abusive rituals to the psychopathological projection of the perpetrators, especially of the parents.[6][7] It has been alleged that abuse may occur during religious rituals.[19][20][21][22][23]

This "psychohistorical" model makes several claims: that childrearing in tribal societies included child sacrifice or high infanticide rates, incest, body mutilation, child rape and tortures, and that such activities were culturally acceptable.[24][25]

See also

References

  1. ^ Keith Wright, Religious Abuse, Wood Lake Publishing Inc., 2001
  2. ^ Milner, Larry S. (2000). Hardness of Heart / Hardness of Life: The Stain of Human Infanticide. University Press of America.
  3. ^ Reinhard, Johan (1999). "A 6,700 metros niños incas sacrificados quedaron congelados en el tiempo". National Geographic: 36–55. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  4. ^ Discovery Channel The mystery of Inca child sacrifice
  5. ^ de Sahagún, Bernardino (1950–1982). Florentine Codex: History of the Things of New Spain, 12 books and 2 introductory volumes. Utah: University of Utah Press, translated and edited by Arthur J.O. Anderson and Charles Dibble.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
  6. ^ a b deMause, Lloyd (2002). The Emotional Life of Nations. NY, London: Karnak.
  7. ^ a b Godwin, Robert W. (2004). One cosmos under God. Minnesota: Paragon House.
  8. ^ Miller, Alice (1991). Breaking down the walls of silence. NY: Dutton/Penguin Books. p. 91.
  9. ^ Brown, Shelby (1991). Late Carthaginian Child Sacrifice and Sacrificial Monuments in their Mediterranean Context. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.
  10. ^ Davies, Nigel (1981). Human Sacrifice in History and Today. NY: William Morrow & Co. p. 192.
  11. ^ Grotstein, James S. (2000). Who is the dreamer who dreams the dream?. NJ: The Analytic Press, Relational Perspectives Book Series Volume 19 edition. pp. 247, 242.
  12. ^ Trinkaus, Erik (1982). "Artificial Cranial Deformation in the in Shanidar 1 and 5 Neandertals". Current Anthropology. 23 (2): 198–199. Retrieved 2008-06-19. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  13. ^ Rousselle, Aline (1983). Porneia: On Desire and the Body in Antiquity. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. p. 54.
  14. ^ Tompkins, Peter (1963). The Eunuch and the Virgin: A Study of Curious Customs. NY: Bramhall House. p. 12.
  15. ^ Róheim, Géza (1950). Psychoanalysis and Anthropology. NY: International Universities Press. p. 76.
  16. ^ Nevill, Drury (1989). The Elements of Shamanism. Longmead: Element. p. 20.
  17. ^ a b Herdt, Gilbert (2005). The Sambia: Ritual, Sexuality, and Change in Papua New Guinea (Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology). Longmead: Wadsworth Publishing; 2 edition.
  18. ^ "Vejan en África a 'niños brujos'" (Press release). Reforma. 19 November 2007. {{cite press release}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  19. ^ Becker, T (2008). "The extreme abuse surveys: Preliminary findings regarding dissociative identity disorder". Forensic aspects of dissociative identity disorder. London: Karnac Books. p. 3249. ISBN 1855755963. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |editors= ignored (|editor= suggested) (help)
  20. ^ Rutz, C. Becker, T., Overkamp, B. & Karriker, W. (2008). Exploring Commonalities Reported by Adult Survivors of Extreme Abuse: Preliminary Empirical Findings pp. 31 84 in Noblitt, J.R. (2008). Ritual Abuse in the Twenty first Century: Psychological, Forensic, Social and Political Considerations. Bandor, OR: Robert Reed. p. 552. ISBN 1934759120. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  21. ^ Extreme Abuse Survey results
  22. ^ Randall, James (2000). Cult and Ritual Abuse: Its History, Anthropology, and Recent Discovery in Contemporary America. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 229. ISBN 0-275-95281-9. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  23. ^ An Empirical Look at the Ritual Abuse Controversy - Randy Noblitt, PhD
  24. ^ deMause, Lloyd (1982). Foundations of Psychohistory. Creative Roots Publishing. pp. 132–146. ISBN 094050801X. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |accessmonth= and |accessyear= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  25. ^ Rascovsky, A. (1995). Filicide: The Murder, Humiliation, Mutilation, Denigration and Abandonment of Children by Parents. NJ: Aronson. p. 107.



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