i am still unconvinced that animal sacrifice is bad. its been awhile since i last did a point-by-point rebuttal here, but i want to now. it's not personal ni hai pheri, just exchange of ideas: "But I despise 'animal sacrifice'. It's so stupid culture." - Again, is it stupid because it is part of our culture and not of the "enlightenend" cultures? Besides, it may be stupid, but it does me good. I get to eat meat. "HARMING OTHER CREATURES WHETHER IT BE MAN OR ANIMALS OR EVEN PLANTS won't make u a better person." - Ok, but it does not necessarily make me a bad person it I harm animals or plants. I think it is impossible for me to survive, to live without harming even humans, let alone animals or plants. PLANTS??? are you kidding me? "You're just being another person to add shit into the world." - Dude, I add shit to the world as long as I am breathe and digest (oh yes, both figuratively and literally). Animal sacrifice has got nothing to do with it. hehe. "We're promoting violence n' to let our children be more cruel by showing them our cultures of 'ANIMAL SACRIFICE'." - We are showing our kids that life is not always goody-goody, cushy-cushy. They have to see where the meat they enjoy eating comes from. That's part of education. In fact, it would be a disservice to not let the kids know that we have to kill the animals first, before we can get meat from them. They have to see beyond grocery store shelves, too. Then maybe they can make an informed decision to not eat meat. Violence (against animals and plants) is a necessary part of (human) life. "They'll learn it's nothing wrong in killing animals" - There may be something wrong in killing animals but sometimes the benefit exceeds the costs. These animals have been reared to be killed and be part of human consumption. If eating them is fine, then well...you can't eat meat without killing animals. I think. "If you talk with the real sociologist or psychologist and ask them to link 'BEHAVIORS IN ANIMAL SACRIFICE CULTURE', you'll come to know further worse complications of it." - Again, another incursion of the enlightenend culture babble. There are further complications of having grown up thinking meat grows in grocery store shelves and realizing later that animals have to be killed to fill the shelves, too. There is guilt involved in that too, if you feel guilty killing animals all the time. "I DESPISE IT BECAUSE IT'S THE CULTURE WHERE HARMING OR HURTING OR KILLING OTHERS IS BELIEVED TO LEAD US TO HEAVEN. THIS HAS MUCH WORSENED CONSEQUENCES THAN WE CAN REALLY THINK OF. BUT I'm sad that we're so much conditioned with our stupid cultures that we can't see even the simple fact. I FEEL ASHAMED TO TELL PEOPLE THAT MY CULTURE HAS SO MANY STUPIDITIES." - Denigration. Or reverse-denigration to be exact. If you feel ashamed to say your culture is stupid, you are conditioned as well. "It might be the same during SATI PRATHA. People were carrying it out in the name of cultures." - Sati pratha was bad because it harmed humans. Yeah, and our culture is not pristine, just as it is not all bad. "Why do people in the world are talking about 'ANIMAL RIGHTS'? Why people in the world try to boycott the cosmetics or other products which has used animals for their trials." - I have to say, a lot of them animal rightists are just wacko. Besides, I can live without cosmetics, but I can't live without meat. So, there are gradations in "cruel" treatment of animals. "When will we be HUMANS IN THE REAL SENSE?" - I don't think "inhumane" treatment of animals necessarily makes us any less human. Those animals are not humans afterall. I just want to add that I am saying any kind of cruel treatment of animals by humans are fine with me. There are practices that do not produce any benefit to humans but only harms animals, maybe. We should take care of animals as much as we can, maybe. But I don't think killing animals for food constitutes moral guilt if I eat meat. As far as animal-killing cultures go, well it differs from place to place. Some like it done in a slaughterhouse so that the gory details are hidden. Some like to do it in front of stone idols (possibly to appease the guilty conscience of the killer). Some like kosher killing - drain all the blood before cutting the animal into pieces. Doesn't make a difference to the animal how it is killed, if it is killed right?