A response to Cannibalism in Our Schools!:

If you can't believe Jesse Helms, who can you believe?

>> There ARE cultures that engage in cannibalism (Azerbaijani soldiers will cut out and eat the heart of Armenian soldiers they kill in combat), infanticide (China vis a vis its infant girls) and euthenasia of the elderly (Holland). If our schools remain neutral, that is, if they fail to point out that these practices are inherently evil, then aren't they tacitly approving this behavior? <<

Infanticide is arguably more "evil" than your other examples, since euthanized patients choose to be euthanized and eating lifeless flesh doesn't hurt anyone living. But infanticide is no more evil than capital punishment, which most civilized people believe is a true evil. The Pope considers capital punishment, euthanasia, homosexuality, abortion, and any form of birth control evil. Most Jewish rabbis disagree with most of these positions; they're most likely to say capital punishment is a sin, if anything.

What does that tell us? That these designations are pretty darn arbitrary. That they depend on the cultural context. That they're not—repeat not—absolutes.

>> More than one university commentator said we should not reject the culture of the Aztecs out of hand because of that practice, that overall they were very "moral" people. <<

Yes. From what I've read, they had a strict moral code—something like Saudi Arabia's version of Islamic sharia. I believe Islamic fundamentalists disprove of euthanasia, homosexuality, and abortion. I suspect they tolerate birth control, and they certainly approve of capital punishment.

They also approve of chopping off the hands of shoplifters and stoning wives who commit adultery. A harsh position...except the Bible also calls for stoning adulterers and other criminals. I don't believe the Pope has advocated stoning lately, but you and your ilk claim to follow the Bible literally. Do you support stoning, as Islamic fundamentalists do, or do you agree with the Pope that people aren't supposed to read the Bible literally?

I believe the Aztecs' position on "moral" crimes such as adultery was about as severe as that of Islamic fundamentalists. Again, their choices seem to be arbitrary—as does your and the Pope's selective reading of the Bible. And did anything keep Aztec citizens who disapproved of human sacrifice from taking a walk to a neighboring group that didn't sacrifice people? Not that I know of.

Got any answers? Good luck with your replies the various questions I've posed. I look forward to the proof that your Christian beliefs are morally sound but the Aztecs' beliefs aren't.

>> How far off the mark was Helms? <<

Far. How far off is the Pope when, in Jesus's name, he denounces the American practices of mass consumerism, environmental destruction, and capital punishment?

Related links
Were the Aztecs murdering "animals"?
Indians as cannibals

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