“The Reaping” and human sacrifice
Chill Factor: 7
Sublime Insight: 5
I must say that I greatly enjoyed this film. I always love a film that combines horror and intelligence, and they come few and far between. The story surrounds a woman who lost her faith on the mission field when her husband and daughter were sacrificed by the natives to end a drought that had begun when they arrived. The protagonist, Hillary Swank, alters her career and moves about the world scientifically disproving supernatural miracles by scientific reasons.
The main story begins when a Louisiana, small town man asks her for help because his entire town is blaming a little girl for hexing the town with the ten plagues of the Bible. Catherine’s (Hillary Swank) past comes back to haunt her when she realizes that human sacrificing seems to be at the root of the problem….
I can’t say anymore or I will give away some of the movie; however, it is true that human sacrificing still occurs in the world today. Although western media does not pick up and run with these stories, that does not mean that they do not occur. It seems sad that America’s media is quick to find any fault with Christianity, but it does not condemn tribes or the practice of child sacrifice.
Even in Africa, a Ju Ju priest has mentioned that the human sacrificing rituals may be one of the reasons why the AIDS epidemic is spreading so quickly in Nigeria. Hmmm. Yeah. Maybe. Perhaps, I should re-read that article to see why he thinks the rituals would be spreading AIDS. Below are links to some articles on items I’ve discussed before.
After a rash of similar killings in the area — according to an unofficial tally in the English language-language Hindustan Times, there have been 25 human sacrifices in western Uttar Pradesh in the last six months alone — police have cracked down against tantriks, jailing four and forcing scores of others to close their businesses and pull their ads from newspapers and television stations. The killings and the stern official response have focused renewed attention on tantrism, an amalgam of mysticism practices that grew out of Hinduism.In India, case links mysticism, murder – John Lancaster, Washington Post, 11/29/2003)
Police in Khurja say dozens of sacrifices have been made over the past six months. Last month, in a village near Barha, a woman hacked her neighbour’s three-year-old to death after a tantrik promised unlimited riches. In another case, a couple desperate for a son had a six-year-old kidnapped and then, as the tantrik chanted mantras, mutilated the child. The woman completed the ritual by washing in the child’s blood. “It’s because of blind superstitions and rampant illiteracy that this woman sacrificed this boy,” said Khurja police officer Ak Singh. “It’s happened before and will happen again but there is little we can do to stop it. In most situations it’s an open and shut case. It isn’t difficult to elicit confessions — normally the villagers or the families of the victims do that for us” …. According to an unofficial tally by the local newspaper, there have been 28 human sacrifices in western Uttar Pradesh in the last four months. Four tantrik priests have been jailed and scores of others forced to flee. “Indian cult kills children for goddess: Holy men blamed for inciting dozens of deaths”, The Observer , Dan McDougall in Khurja, India, Sunday March 5, 2006
Murmu had sacrificed Chirku Besra before Goddess Kali on December 11, 1996 and dumped the head in a pond. Advocate Anil Kumar Mittal, counsel for Murmu, had contended that though superstition was not expected and encouraged in a modern society, yet an illiterate tribal brought up in an atmosphere surcharged with superstition should not be awarded death penalty. (Read the whole article at http://www.religionnewsblog.com/5453)
Milton Blahyi, a former feared rebel commander in Liberia’s brutal civil war, has admitted to taking part in human sacrifices as part of traditional ceremonies intended to ensure victory in battle.
Milton Blahyi fought Charles Taylor’s forces in the war
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He said the sacrifices “included the killing of an innocent child and plucking out the heart, which was divided into pieces for us to eat.”
Read more at:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7200101.stm
News – South Asia – Horror of India’s child sacrifice . Last updated: 12 Apr 2006
The prison warden told us of over 200 cases of child sacrifice in these parts over the last seven years. He told us incidents of child sacrifice are often covered up. (news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4903390.stm)
News – Magazine – Witchcraft and the ‘missing’ report . Last updated: 22 May 2006
The child sacrifice allegations have alienated them even further because they have all been tarred with the same brush.” (news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5002054.stm)
News – UK – Boys ‘used for human sacrifice‘ . Last updated: 16 Jun 2005
Members of the workshop said for spells to be powerful it required a sacrifice of a male child unblemished by circumcision,” the report said. (news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4098172.stm)
News – Asia-Pacific – Thais to curb supernatural excess . Last updated: 13 Oct 2004
The murder was reportedly inspired by a Hindu goddess that the women worshipped who had told them to sacrifice the child. (news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3740830.stm)
Killing for ‘Mother’ Kali
By Rahul Karmakar
in Guwahati, north-eastern India
Followers of a Hindu cult in India’s north-eastern state of Assam have revived the ancient practice of human sacrifice.(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1908706.stm)
PAGAN AND NEOPAGAN HUMAN SACRIFICE
Isaiah Oke, a former Ju Ju priest from Nigeria, documented one such human sacrifice he attended, and blames Africa’s current AIDS cirisis on Ju Ju’s use of …
usminc.org/humansacrifice.html – 87k -