The Dallas Morning News’ religion blog reminds us that March 10th will begin the first major trial case involving Santeria since the groundbreaking 1993 Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah decision. Like the famous Florida case, it involves the ritual sacrifice of animals at one’s home.

“Santeria priest Jose Merced filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against the city of Euless in December 2006 after officials told him he couldn’t sacrifice goats at his home for a ceremony initiating a new priest. Followers of the African-Caribbean religion consider animal sacrifice as essential to Santeria as Communion is to Catholics. Euless says the killing of goats for whatever reason would violate its city-wide slaughtering ban. Last year, the city proposed a settlement that permitted the killing of chickens – which is also involved in the ceremony and allowed under the city ordinance. Mr. Merced rejected the offer, saying that Santeria would cease to exist without the sacrifice of goats as well.”

Despite the fact that Merced presented police officers with a copy of the Supreme Court decision allowing for religious animal sacrifice within the home, he was still prevented from going through with the planned initiation ceremony*. The city of Fort Worth is hoping that its animal slaughter regulations will stand up in court, because unlike the law struck down in Hialeah, their law doesn’t seem to single out any particular religious tradition.

“…the Supreme Court of the United States held unconstitutional an ordinance passed in Hialeah, Florida that forbade the “unnecessar[y]” killing of “an animal in a public or private ritual or ceremony not for the primary purpose of food consumption.” The law was enacted soon after the city council of Hialeah learned that the Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye, which practiced Santería, was planning on locating.”

Further complicating Jose Merced’s case is the fact that a judge ruled in January that the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act didn’t apply since the city’s slaughtering ban regulated only conduct, not land use. So it’s going to come down to if the theological necessity of sacrificing goats at a initiation ceremony will trump a generalized slaughter ban. Working in Marced’s favor is the fact that the slaughter ban isn’t absolute, and permits the killing of chickens in the home, which will lessen arguments concerning public safety (chickens can carry as many, if not more, pathogens and diseases as any goat).

There is a very good chance this case will reach the Supreme Court (I can’t envision either side letting the matter rest after a loss), and may settle once and for all the question of animal sacrifice for religious purposes. Making it a case that will end up being important for adherents of Santeria, as well as modern Pagan groups interested in reviving animal sacrifice. So come Monday, all eyes interested in the rights of minority faiths should be turning towards Texas.

* It should be noted that the ritually slaughtered goats are then normally cooked and eaten by participants in the ceremony. So in many ways, what they are doing could be considered far more ethical than eating a burger churned out by a industrial slaughterhouse.

Tags: animal sacrifice, law, litigation, Religious Freedom, Santeria, Texas