Progress in Santeria-Police Relations
Considering recent troubles in Florida, relations between Florida police and practitioners of Santeria haven’t been the best. So it is encouraging to hear that Miami-Dade County police officials are taking a progressive step in bettering relations between law enforcement and this often-misunderstood faith.
“…leaders of the [Santeria] faith are hailing a recent decision by Miami-Dade County police officials to include in their Law Enforcement Handbook a reminder that the U.S. Constitution protects the humane killing of animals in religious ceremonies. Yeyefini Efunbolade, a Santeria priest who lives in Hollywood, expressed hope that the message will spread to Broward and Palm Beach counties, and other jurisdictions with reputations for less tolerance for animal sacrifices.”
Lt. Sherry Schlueter of the Broward Sheriff’s Office special victims and family crimes unit was quick to point out that police would still prosecute those who do not engage in humane animal sacrifice, a stance that local Santeria leaders endorse as well.
“‘The most important word here is humane,’ Schlueter said. “If a person kills an animal in a cruel manner, if the knife is not sharp or the kill is not done swiftly, that would be a crime, regardless if it was done as part of a ritual.” [Ernesto] Pichardo and [Yeyefini] Efunbolade said they agree. “We believe that the spirit of the animal will come back to haunt you if you make a sacrifice incorrectly,” Efunbolade said. Santeros, or priests, must undergo extensive training before they are qualified to conduct sacrifices, Pichardo said.”
As the Pagan community has learned over the years, incorrect or incomplete information can lead to unnecessary conflicts and misunderstandings between law enforcement and practitioners of minority faiths. This has led some unscrupulous opponents of our faiths to supply law enforcement with misinformation in order to intimidate us, and further their own religious/political goals. One remedy is to support Pagan organizations that engage in and advocate better communications between service personnel and modern Pagans. There may be times when we can’t avoid having the police at our door, but we can hope to avoid incorrect perceptions and hostile interactions through better education and information.
6 responses so far
I don’t know, I find no reason to embrace the idea of killing animals as some sort of diety ass-kissing. Killing animals as sustenance is one thing; we evolved eating meat like any other predator…..but killing simply for the sake of killing, even as “worship” seems to reflect the darker side of human intelligence, which I for one do not wish to encourage. Mutilating young girls genetals and excusing it as “culture” is equally repulsive and I will not embrace it in the name of “tolerance”. We have to draw a line SOMEwhere if we ever hope to evolve.
In most cases the animals are also eaten. So they aren’t killing just “for the sake of killing”.
We kill animals every day in great quantities; if you eat meat, then you participate in that – embrace it, even, to use Michael’s term. How is it suddenly “dark” to do so in a sacred ceremony instead of a slaughterhouse? The animals that die in these ceremonies are treated much more humanely than your average Tyson chicken – if anything, animal sacrifice seems to me to be morally superior to our culture’s normal way of dealing with meat eating.
As Jason said, in all cases accept when the animal is used to transfer an illness out of the body of a human being and into the animal, the animals are eaten, it is not wasteful (the same was true in many ancient societies, by the way.)
If you eat meat, then a huge amount of toxic pollution, famine and life-wasting happens in your name every day, unless you eat only meat that comes from small, humane farms. Corporate farms use practices that are gruesome and inhumane with the sole intent of creating as much “product” as possible at the lowest cost. Animals are cheaper to let sicken and die than to treat in many cases, and the illnesses are caused by the inhumane way they are raised, which is due to profit being the only goal. And if you don’t think profit is a religion for corporations, I will be surprised.
Animals used for sacrifice I treated with more dignity, humanity and respect than almost any animal that makes it into a hamburger, period. And, for the record, I am a vegetarian of 14 years that has no intent to ever sacrifice an animal, but if I did eat meat, I think it would be a sacred duty for me to commune with an animal I intended to eat at least once, thank it for its life, and have the guts to honor it by killing it myself (or hunt it myself). Eating animals thoughtlessly is sacreligious to anyone who believes all life is sacred. I have much greater respect for those who sacrifice animals with honor as part of their faith than those that pull up to a drive thru window for a Big Mac.
Sacrifice ~ To Make Sacred
Thank you for sharing this information. It’s not exactly hitting the mainstream news.
I find it bizarre that people get so upset about sacrifice of animals in religious ritual when that’s exactly what kosher meat is! And, something many don’t realise, the animal is indeed at least partly eaten in the aftermath to many rituals. So long as it is done humanely, it doesn’t make sense to fuss.