Editing Religious abuse (section)

==Violence==
{{Main|Religious violence}}
Religious violence and extremism (also called communal violence<ref>{{Cite book |last=Horowitz |first=Donald L. |title=The Deadly Ethnic Riot |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |year=2000 |isbn=9780520224476 |location=Berkeley}}</ref>) is a term that covers all phenomena where [[religion]] is either the subject or object of violent behavior.<ref>{{cite journal|last= Wellman|first= James|author2=Tokuno, Kyoko |year= 2004|title= Is Religious Violence Inevitable?|doi=10.1111/j.1468-5906.2004.00234.x|journal= Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion|volume= 43|pages= 291|issue= 3}}</ref>

===Human sacrifice===
{{Main|Human sacrifice|Child sacrifice|Child sacrifice in pre-Columbian cultures}}
Human sacrifice (sometimes called ritual murder) has been practiced on a number of different occasions and in many different cultures. The various rationales behind human sacrifice are the same that motivate religious sacrifice in general. Human sacrifice is typically intended to bring good fortune and to pacify the gods. Fertility was another common theme in ancient religious sacrifices.

Human sacrifice may be a ritual practiced in a stable society, and may even be conducive to [[Sociology of religion|enhance societal unity]], both by creating a bond unifying the sacrificing community, and in combining human sacrifice and capital punishment, by removing individuals that have a perceived negative effect on societal stability (criminals, religious heretics, foreign slaves or prisoners of war). However, outside of civil religion, human sacrifice may also result in outbursts of blood frenzy and mass killings that destabilize society.

[[Archaeology]] has uncovered physical evidence of [[child sacrifice]] at several locations.<ref name="Hardness">{{cite book |last=Milner |first=Larry S. |title=Hardness of Heart / Hardness of Life: The Stain of Human Infanticide |publisher=University Press of America |year=2000 |isbn=9780761815785 |location=Lanham |pages=16–22}}</ref> Some of the best attested examples are the diverse rites which were part of the religious practices in [[Mesoamerica]] and the [[Inca Empire]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Reinhard |first1=Johan |last2=Stenzel |first2=Maria |date=November 1999 |title=A 6,700 metros niños incas sacrificados quedaron congelados en el tiempo |journal=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]] |language=es |pages=36–55}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Allingham |first=Winnie |date=1999-04-14 |title=The mystery of Inca child sacrifice |url=http://www.exn.ca/mummies/story.asp?id=1999041452 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080306113143/http://exn.ca/mummies/story.asp?id=1999041452 |archive-date=2008-03-06 |access-date=25 January 2017 |website=EXN}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=de Sahagún |first=Bernardino |title=''Florentine Codex: History of the Things of New Spain'', 12 books and 2 introductory volumes |title-link=Florentine Codex |date=1950–1982 |publisher=University of Utah Press |others=Translated and edited by Arthur J.O. Anderson and Charles Dibble |location=Utah |author-link=Bernardino de Sahagún}}</ref> Psychologists [[Alice Miller (psychologist)|Alice Miller]] and Robert Godwin, psychohistorian [[Lloyd deMause]] and other advocates of children's rights have written about pre-Columbian sacrifice within the framework of [[child abuse]].{{Sfn|deMause|2002|p=312, 374, 410}}{{sfn|Godwin|2004|p=168f}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Miller |first=Alice |title=Breaking down the walls of silence |publisher=Dutton/[[Penguin Books]] |year=1991 |isbn=9780525933571 |location=New York |pages=91}}</ref>

[[Plutarch]] ({{circa|46–120 AD}}) mentions the [[Carthage|Carthaginian]]'s ritual burning of small children, as do [[Tertullian]], [[Paulus Orosius|Orosius]], [[Diodorus Siculus]] and [[Philo]]. [[Livy]] and [[Polybius]] do not. There is no conclusive archaeological evidence for Carthaginian child sacrifice but the occurrence of the practise has not been ruled out.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cerezo-Román |first1=Jessica I. |last2=Kaufman |first2=Brett |last3=McGowan |first3=Glenys |last4=Drine |first4=Ali |last5=Fenn |first5=Thomas R. |last6=Barnard |first6=Hans |last7=Khedher |first7=Rayed |last8=Tahar |first8=Sami Ben |last9=Edington |first9=Stacy |last10=Jerray |first10=Elyssa |last11=Daniels |first11=Megan |date=2024 |title=The life and death of cremated infants and children from the Neo-Punic tophet at Zita, Tunisia |journal=Antiquity |language=en |volume=98 |issue=400 |pages=936–953 |doi=10.15184/aqy.2024.85 |issn=0003-598X|doi-access=free }}</ref> The [[Hebrew Bible]] also mentions what appears to be child sacrifice practised at a place called the [[Tophet]] (''roasting place'') by the [[Canaan]]ites, and by some Israelites.<ref>{{cite book |last=Brown |first=Shelby |title=Late Carthaginian Child Sacrifice and Sacrificial Monuments in their Mediterranean Context |publisher=Sheffield Academic Press |year=1991 |isbn=9781850752400 |location=Sheffield}}</ref>

Children were thrown to the sharks in ancient [[Hawaii]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Davies |first=Nigel |url=https://archive.org/details/humansacrificein00davi/page/192 |title=Human Sacrifice in History and Today |publisher=William Morrow & Co. |year=1981 |isbn=9780880292115 |location=New York |page=192 |url-access=registration}}</ref>

Sacrificial victims were often infants. "The slaughtering of newborn babies may be considered a common event in many cultures" including the [[Eskimo]], the [[Polynesians]], the [[Ancient Egypt]]ians, the [[Chinese people|Chinese]], the [[Scandinavia]]ns, and various indigenous peoples of [[Ethnic groups of Africa|Africa]], [[indigenous peoples of the Americas|the Americas]] and [[Indigenous Australians|Australia]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Grotstein |first=James S. |title=Who is the dreamer who dreams the dream? |publisher=The Analytic Press |year=2000 |isbn=9780881633054 |series=Relational Perspectives Book Series |volume=19 |location=Hillsdale |pages=247, 242}}</ref>

===Initiation rites===
{{Main|Initiation rite}}
[[Artificial deformation of the skull]] predates written history and dates back as far as 45,000 BCE, as evidenced by two [[Neanderthal]] skulls found in [[Shanidar Cave]].<ref>{{cite journal |last= Trinkaus |first= Erik |date=April 1982|title= Artificial Cranial Deformation in the Shanidar 1 and 5 Neandertals|journal= Current Anthropology |volume= 23|issue= 2|pages= 198–199 |jstor= 2742361|doi= 10.1086/202808 |s2cid= 144182791 }}</ref> It was usually started just after birth and continued until the desired shape was achieved. It may have played a key role in Egyptian and [[Maya civilization|Mayan]] societies.<ref>{{cite book | last = Rousselle | first = Aline | title = Porneia: On Desire and the Body in Antiquity | publisher = Basil Blackwell | year = 1983 | location = Oxford |isbn=1610975820 | page = 54}}</ref>

In [[China]] some boys were castrated, with both the penis and scrotum cut.<ref>{{cite book | last = Tompkins| first = Peter| title = The Eunuch and the Virgin: A Study of Curious Customs | publisher = Bramhall House | year = 1963 | location = NY| pages = 12}}</ref> Other [[Ritual#Ritual actions|ritual actions]] have been described by [[anthropologists]]. [[Géza Róheim]] wrote about initiation rituals performed by Australian natives in which adolescent initiates were forced to drink blood.<ref>{{cite book |last=Róheim |first=Géza |title=Psychoanalysis and Anthropology |publisher=International Universities Press |year=1950 |location=New York |pages=76 |oclc=894357265 |author-link=Géza Róheim}}</ref>

===Modern practices===

In the rituals of some tribes in [[Papua New Guinea]], an elder "picks out a sharp stick of cane and sticks it deep inside a boy's nostrils until he bleeds profusely into the stream of a pool, an act greeted by loud war cries."<ref name="Sambia ritual">{{cite book |last=Herdt |first=Gilbert |title=The Sambia: Ritual, Sexuality, and Change in Papua New Guinea (Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology) |publisher=Wadsworth Publishing |year=2005 |isbn=9780534643836 |edition=2nd |location=Longmead |page=85 |author-link=Gilbert Herdt}}</ref> Afterwards, when boys are initiated into puberty and manhood, they are expected to perform [[fellatio]] on the elders. "Not all initiates will participate in this ceremonial homosexual activity but, about five days later, several will have to perform fellatio several times."<ref name="Sambia ritual" />

Individual cases of ritual murder have been recorded in Brazil,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lewan |first=Todd |date=1993-02-17 |title=Satanic Cult Killings Spread Fear in Brazil |url=https://tulsaworld.com/news/satanic-cult-killings-spread-fear-in-brazil/article_8740ae98-48e8-5773-8fac-6049ed826457.html |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=Tulsa World |via=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref> the United States,<ref>{{Cite news|title = Man given 25 years in mother's 'satanic' killing|url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2013-jul-17-la-me-satanic-killer-sentencing-20130718-story.html|newspaper = Los Angeles Times|date = 2013-07-18|access-date = 2015-11-21|issn = 0458-3035|first = Matt|last = Hamilton}}</ref> Singapore ([[Toa Payoh ritual murders]]), and Uganda.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Smitheram |first=Esther |date=2015-03-04 |title=How one charity is working to prevent child sacrifice in Uganda |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/mar/04/child-sacrifice-uganda-mutilation-witch-doctor |access-date=2025-11-01 |work=[[The Guardian]] |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

===Witch-hunts===
{{Further|Witch-hunt}}
{{Further|Witchcraft accusations against children in Africa}}

To this day, witch hunts, trials and accusations are still a real danger in some parts of the world. Trials result in violence against men, women and children, including murder.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jul/05/witches-feminism-books-kristin-j-sollee|title=Are witches the ultimate feminists?|last=Kelly|first=Kim|date=2017-07-05|work=The Guardian|access-date=2017-12-05|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> In [[The Gambia]], about 1,000 people accused of being witches were locked in government detention centers in March 2009, being beaten, forced to drink an unknown [[hallucinogenic]] potion, and confess to witchcraft, according to [[Amnesty International]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=18 March 2009 |title=The Gambia: Hundreds accused of "witchcraft" and poisoned in government campaign |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/press-releases/2009/03/gambia-hundreds-accused-e2809cwitchcrafte2809d-and-poisoned-government-campaign-20/ |access-date=2017-12-05 |website=[[Amnesty International]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/mar/19/gambia-witchcraft-hallucinogenics|title=Gambian state kidnaps 1,000 villagers in mass purge of 'witchcraft'|last=Rice|first=Xan|date=2009-03-19|work=The Guardian|access-date=2017-12-05|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> In Tanzania thousands of elderly Tanzanian women have been strangled, knifed to death and burned alive over the last two decades after being denounced as witches.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Migiro |first=Katy |date=21 March 2017 |title=Despite murderous attacks, Tanzania's 'witches' fight for land |work=[[Reuters]] |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tanzania-women-landrights/despite-murderous-attacks-tanzanias-witches-fight-for-land-idUSKBN16S2HU |access-date=2017-12-05}}</ref> Ritualistic abuse may also involve children accused of, and punished for, being purported witches in some [[Central Africa]]n areas. A child may be blamed for the illness of a relative, for example.<ref>{{cite press release |title=Vejan en África a 'niños brujos' |publisher=[[Reforma (newspaper)|Reforma]] |date=19 November 2007 |language=es}}</ref> Other examples include [[Ghana]], where alleged witches were banished to refugee camps,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digitaljournal.com/article/312940|title=Ghana to send 'witches' banished to refugee camps back home|date=17 October 2011|access-date=25 January 2017|work=Digital Journal|author=Didymus, Johnthomas}}</ref> and the beating and isolation of children accused of being witches in [[Angola]].<ref>{{cite web |date=12 December 2006 |title="Witchcraft" an excuse for child abuse |url=http://www.irinnews.org/Report/62424/ANGOLA-Witchcraft-an-excuse-for-child-abuse |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141103135340/http://www.irinnews.org/report/62424/angola-witchcraft-an-excuse-for-child-abuse |archive-date=2014-11-03 |access-date=25 January 2017 |work=[[IRIN News]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Salopek |first=Paul |date=2004-03-28 |title=Children in Angola tortured as witches |work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-0403280349mar28-story.html}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2005-07-13 |title=Angola witchcraft's child victims |work=BBC |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4677969.stm |url-status=dead |access-date=2017-12-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230417074722/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4677969.stm |archive-date=2023-04-17}}</ref>

===Psychohistorical explanation===
{{Main|Psychohistorical views on infanticide}}

A small number of academics subscribe to the theory of [[psychohistory]] and attribute the abusive rituals to the [[psychopathology|psychopathological]] [[projection (psychology)|projection]] of the perpetrators, especially the parents.{{Sfn|deMause|2002|pp=258–262}}{{Sfn|Godwin|2004|p=124–176}}

This ''psychohistorical'' model claims that practices of [[Tribal society|tribal societies]] sometimes included [[incest]] and the sacrifice, [[mutilation]], rape and torture of children, and that such activities were culturally acceptable.<ref>{{cite book |last=deMause |first=Lloyd |title=Foundations of Psychohistory |date=January 1982 |publisher=Creative Roots Publishing |isbn=9780940508019 |pages=132–146 |author-link=Lloyd deMause}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Rascovsky |first=Arnaldo |url=https://archive.org/details/filicidemurderhu0000rasc/ |title=Filicide: The Murder, Humiliation, Mutilation, Denigration and Abandonment of Children by Parents |publisher=[[Jason Aronson|Aronson]] |year=1995 |isbn=9781568214566 |location=Northvale |pages=107 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>