USA Animal Sacrifice Law Was Amended Because of Yoruba Religion

THE FIRST AMENDMENT : Lukumi

We always think of animal sacrifice as an ancient ritual, but many people still practice it today. This sparked some controversy in Florida in the late 1980s, leading to a landmark Supreme Court decision in Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. Hialeah. This case still influences religious freedom law today, even being cited in the courts' decisions to strike down President Donald Trump's so-called Muslim Ban.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZb0pwBf2OE
Is Animal Sacrifice Legal in the USA?


In 1993, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a First Amendment religious free exercise challenge brought by a Florida Santerían church in Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah. However, Lukumi may be the most misunderstood legal precedent in recent history. The decision is often cited for the proposition that religious practitioners have a constitutional right to engage in animal sacrifice. This is far from the truth. Lukumi was decided in a unique context, and its holding was not based on the merits of animal sacrifice. This article will demonstrate that Lukumi does not force government to acquiesce to animal sacrifice, or the “litter” it creates. The article can be found in this link: https://www.animallaw.info/article/free-exercise-does-not-protect-animal-sacrifice-misconception-church-lukumi-babalu-aye-v



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Np0YD3Ax_k
Soul food: Santeria

YORUBA also known as SANTERIA OR LUCUMI or NAGOS or Regla de Ocha or IFA RELIGION or ISHESE is a fast spreading religion of the Americas with about 1 million followers in the USA and about 100 million follower from all over the world. (This has been happening before the 15th century)




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDNs81YjZ4U
AFRO CUBAN SANTERIA || SACRIFICIAL CEREMONY || Viewer Discretion || Santeria in Cuba



https://www.animallaw.info/article/free-exercise-does-not-protect-animal-sacrifice-misconception-church-lukumi-babalu-aye-v

THE FIRST AMENDMENT

Animal Sacrifice


The Supreme Court addressed the constitutionality of animal sacrifice for religious purposes in Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah (1993), voting unanimously to strike down a set of local ordinances prohibiting the practice because they specifically targeted the Santería religion.

At the same time, the Court continued to be divided over the appropriate test to determine the constitutionality of free exercise claims.

Santería religion uses animal sacrifice
Santería combines elements of Roman Catholicism and some African religious practices. It originated in West Africa, and adherents brought it to Cuba during the slave trade and then to the United States following the Cuban revolution.

Some Santeríans practice animal sacrifice as part of their religious ritual and belief. They cut the throats of chickens, goats, sheep, or turtles, which are often eaten later as part of religious ceremonies involving weddings, births, and deaths.

City banned animal sacrifices in response to proposed Santerían church
In 1987 a group of Santeríans made plans to open a church in Hialeah, Florida. In response, the city council passed a number of ordinances limiting animal sacrifice, which the city defined as “to unnecessarily kill, torment, or mutilate an animal in a public or private ritual or ceremony not for the primary purpose of food consumption.”

The city argued that there were considerable health risks involved with feeding, housing, slaughtering, and disposing of animals in locations not properly zoned for these practices. They estimated that as many as 10,000 animals were slaughtered each year in areas of the city not so zoned.

The city also cited a concern for animal cruelty as another reason for the regulations.

Court considered state interest v. free exercise of religion
The Supreme Court voted 9-0 to strike down the ordinances with Justice Anthony M. Kennedy delivering the opinion of the Court. Despite the unanimous vote, Justices Antonin Scalia, David H. Souter, and Harry A. Blackmun each wrote separate concurring opinions.

The justices spent most of their time debating the new free exercise test articulated in Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith (1990).

In Smith, Scalia said that neutrality should be the standard used to adjudicate free exercise claims. The neutrality standard had replaced the longstanding free exercise test from Sherbert v. Verner (1963) that government could only burden religious practice if a compelling state interest existed and the government used the least-restrictive means of achieving that interest. The neutrality standard was much easier for governments to meet than was the compelling interest test.

Kennedy adopted a hybrid approach, explaining that “a law failing to satisfy [the requirements of neutrality and general applicability] must be justified by a compelling governmental interest and must be narrowly tailored to advance that interest.”

Court concluded ordinance violated the First Amendment and targeted one religious group
Kennedy said that despite government claims to the contrary, the ordinances were clearly targeted at Santeríans and were therefore not neutral. He then turned to the reasons given by the state and concluded that they were neither “compelling” nor “narrowly tailored.”

Kennedy noted that hunters, restaurants, and people who fish were not subject to the regulations, thereby making the government’s public health arguments a sham. He charged that the city’s animal cruelty argument also was a smokescreen, as authorities did not seek to prohibit kosher slaughter although that method was similar to the way Santeríans sacrificed animals: “simultaneous and instantaneous severance of the carotid arteries with a sharp instrument.”

Animal cruelty laws could be at issue in future
Justice Blackmun in his concurrence explained that one day the Court would have to decide the issue of animal sacrifice for religious purposes under a statute that met the neutrality test: “A harder case would be presented if [a religious group] were requesting an exemption from a generally applicable anti-cruelty law. The result in the case before the Court today, and the fact that every Member of the Court concurs in that result, does not necessarily reflect this Court’s views of the strength of a State’s interest in prohibiting cruelty to animals. ... The number of organizations that have filed ... briefs on behalf of this interest, however, demonstrates that it is not a concern to be treated lightly.”

Lukumi Babalu was essentially an easy case because the ordinances were written so poorly. The Court has not yet revisited the issue of animal sacrifice.

This article was originally published in 2009. Artemus Ward is professor of political science faculty associate at the college of law at Northern Illinois University. Ward received his Ph.D. from the Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs at Syracuse University and served as a staffer on the House Judiciary Committee. He is an award-winning author of several books of the U.S. Supreme Court and his research and commentary have been featured in such outlets as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, NBC Nightly News, Fox News, and C-SPAN.

https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/30/animal-sacrifice


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2gtMhYUaAI
What is Santeria? All about my religion



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2se_zimj40
African Pantheons and the Orishas: Crash Course World Mythology #11

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_12c4gAWyH8&t=184s

Celebration of Orisha Ogun Lakaaye Orisa in Brazil by Yoruba Brazil Oyinbo

Ogun Lakaaye Celebrated in Brazil by Oyinbo. Yoruba Brazil, Yoruba Religion is accepted in Brazil so much. Yoruba Isese Religion is global now.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QuzlsgtXb0
Santeria priest says religion is flourishing with new devotees




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79pyL2CGrSw

Santeria
There are over 1 million practitioner of Santeria in USA. 100million world wide

Wait for pastor to rebuke you all.

Please someone should please check on our internet robotic pastor "Righteousness".
I hope all is well?



Yoruba to the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71r8tNlOqAI

Ifa Consultation in Brazil





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-QVXx1utTY

Ifa consultations

Enjoy these music:

Alvarez y su Son - ¿Y que tu quieres te den? Dedicated to Yoruba Orishas
One of Cuba's most popular performers, Adalberto Alvarez performs one of the dance floor's most popular songs and homage to the Orishas - if you have the stamina!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gt0taRu0dE0



Song feature Sango, Osun, Esu, Ogun and other gods
Mis Ancestros" Rumbatá, Heikel Pro e Ito. Dir. Oscar Alejandro


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPjtlspWL8A



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Dri44vTYZw

.

UncleAyo

As you can now fathom,

YORUBA RELIGION IS ODU-DU-IWA.

UncleAyo

As you can now fathom,

YORUBA RELIGION IS ODU-DU-IWA MEANING BOND(COVENANT) OF CHARACTER.

orisa37:
UncleAyo
As you can now fathom,
YORUBA RELIGION IS ODU-DU-IWA MEANING BOND(COVENANT) OF CHARACTER.

TRUE

Yoruba

Yoruba lagba

Proudly a Yoruba man.

This is better than human ritual introduced to the Yoruba by the likes of Eze ego and Clifford orji.

orisa37:
UncleAyo

As you can now fathom,

YORUBA RELIGION IS ODU-DU-IWA.

Yoruba religion is not Oduduwa.
It( f we can say there is an it ) existed thousands of years before Oduduwa came from wherever he came from
Oduduwa arrived in Ife and established a dynasty after displacing the existing monarch
Naturally his descendants created a new story but we should be able to read between the lines to reconstruct some notion of what happened
There is nothing like YORUBA RELIGION per se in the sense that Christianity or Islam is a religion with rules handed down from a supreme God.

The fundamental principle is that people can worship any deity they like. Many deities are simply people who once walked on this earth once upon a time( like Jesus) and who had attributes that were valued. In a similar vein deities can be killed if no longer useful
So someone like Fela, Awolowo, Ronaldo Maradona , Bobrisky could become deified by those who value one thing or another about them
There are hundreds of deities and some worship one or many more there is no compulsion
Santeria seeks to institutionalize along Christian lines or patterns whereas traditionally thing are less regimented
People in the same house might not worship the same deity

Another thing is Egun or Egungun which is another long subject

Yoruba

aribisala0:
Yoruba religion is not Oduduwa.
It( f we can say there is an it ) existed thousands of years before Oduduwa came from wherever he came from
Oduduwa arrived in Ife and established a dynasty after displacing the existing monarch
Naturally his descendants created a new story but we should be able to read between the lines to reconstruct some notion of what happened
There is nothing like YORUBA RELIGION per se in the sense that Christianity or Islam is a religion with rules handed down from a supreme God.

The fundamental principle is that people can worship any deity they like. Many deities are simply people who once walked on this earth once upon a time( like Jesus) and who had attributes that were valued. In a similar vein deities can be killed if no longer useful
So someone like Fela, Awolowo, Ronaldo Maradona , Bobrisky could become deified by those who value one thing or another about them
There are hundreds of deities and some worship one or many more there is no compulsion
Santeria seeks to institutionalize along Christian lines or patterns whereas traditionally thing are less regimented
People in the same house might not worship the same deity

Another thing is Egun or Egungun which is another long subject

Your Oduduwa narative is interesting... Normally, Yoruba have been existing right before oduduwa...

Tell us some thing about the egungun, we are here to learn

UncleAyo:


Your Oduduwa narative is interesting... Normally, Yoruba have been existing right before oduduwa...

Tell us some thing about the egungun, we are here to learn

Actually no one identified as Yoruba until recently

There are commonalities in terms of origin stories and Ifa but there are distinctions as well based on various Neighbour Influences.

So there is no one Egungun tradition across all of what we now call "Yoruba land

Ekiti have Benin Influences, There are also riverine Yoruba with Ijaw influences that have River deities e.g

In Lagos you have Eyo which is quite distinct and I am not sure whether they are "Egungun"

Having said all that Egungun are often manifestations of ancestral spirits
They also are use to tell mystic stories or history or deliver judgment e.g enforcing banishment or other judicial functions
There are Familial Egungun and also Egungun societies you have to travel widely to see many variations
but common practices include, invocation, possession , specific dress and so on
Some masquerades are specific to cults in some places or animal totems

It is a big topic worthy of a thread of its own

It is also important that the practice is common across most of the South of Nigeria

e.g Mmawwu in the South East

I believe Islam may have wiped it out in the North
I do not know if it exists in Ilorin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vMU2GetfgA

aribisala0:
Actually no one identified as Yoruba until recently

There are commonalities in terms of origin stories and Ifa but there are distinctions as well based on various Neighbour Influences.

So there is no one Egungun tradition across all of what we now call "Yoruba land

Ekiti have Benin Influences, There are also riverine Yoruba with Ijaw influences that have River deities e.g

In Lagos you have Eyo which is quite distinct and I am not sure whether they are "Egungun"

Having said all that Egungun are often manifestations of ancestral spirits
They also are use to tell mystic stories or history or deliver judgment e.g enforcing banishment or other judicial functions
There are Familial Egungun and also Egungun societies you have to travel widely to see many variations
but common practices include, invocation, possession , specific dress and so on
Some masquerades are specific to cults in some places or animal totems

It is a big topic worthy of a thread of its own

It is also important that the practice is common across most of the South of Nigeria

e.g Mmawwu in the South East

I believe Islam may have wiped it out in the North
I do not know if it exists in Ilorin

This also looks good. There is a lot to learn about Yoruba

Yoruba 1

Yoruba