How do you guys feel about the idea of ritual self-sacrifice and suicide....
Would you do it, if you felt the cause was important enough?
If you did it, how would you do it?

i'm not planning to do this, or in any way encouraging it, just curious as to what other people think about it.

sacrifice is a subject that fascinates me...i think in the proper society i could easily sacrafice another being...ancient cultures had no"constraints" brought on by a polite society, but with a life of violence, chaos, and survival of the fitest human sacrifice was viewed no differently than communion is today...a few religions were able to establish the validity of animal sacrifice as integral to their freedom of worship...is there a difference between a steak to eat and a heart for an offering? It's even been made more acceptable for modern society by using cain like offerings for sacrificial offerings...and then you can have a nice salad in honor of those you've just made and offering to :D

Why yes, yes I would

Some modern religions still use animal sacrifice, but it is far less common than it used to be...
Does anyone see a difference between sacrificing a chicken to fuel a spell and fueling the spell on your own energy and then eating a chicken dinner to recharge???
I find animal sacrifice to be extremely efficient when the corpse of the animal is eaten.... It would be better than our current wasteful method of eating the animal and wasting its energy.
As for human sacrifice.... I can think of few publicised recent instances of this... There was the killing of an infant by the Temple of the Sun, the whole Jonesville mess and that sect which comitted mass suicide in California a few years back (sorry, can't remember the name)... I don't think that any of those sacrifices did anything besides make something for the media to fuss over. What do you think would need to happen for a sacrifice to be effective? And can you think of any instances in which a human sacrifice would be aboslutely necessary?
If a magician sacrificed her own body to a spell, and then used the black rite to gain another body, would you consider it a self-sacrifice or the sacrifice of another?

i disagree that suicide and sacrifice are the same kind of death...a sacrifice is made to honor something...suicide is just an easy escape from life...

They are very different things... Not having been there for the instances of mass self-inflicted death of members of religious sects that I spoke of, I really couldn't say if they were simple suicide or mass ritaul self-sacrifice.

i vote suicide...most wanted to die to escape this world...not for blessings on themselves

I'd kill someone else. I already want to do that.

From what I know of Jonesville, it was suicide, and it was IMO cowardly... Changing the world is harder than leaving it, but more worthwhile.

Do you want to kill a particular someone or are you just out for the experience?

no i wouldn't, but it is possibly due to the fact that i don't follow religion. if i did, then i might change my mind, but i don't feel that it is neccessary to kill anything to appese the gods.

Looking at the history of humanity, it appears that the gods have a different view.. What are religious wars but indirect human sacrifices?

Originally posted by BringerofStorms
that sect which comitted mass suicide in California a few years back (sorry, can't remember the name)... Heavens gate I think.

I voted no because the idea of ritual human sacrifice disgusts me.:p None of those kinds of sacrifies are effective, they`re just suicide for a even dumber (but more accepted) reason than normal.

Yeah, it was Heaven's Gate....
I think that it could be effective if done right, but most of those who are reckless enough to do it don't have the necessary skill to make the most of it.

I wonder what cause could be good enough to sacrifice somebody for a ritual? I agree with RedMeat here.

Any gods of worth would not be charmed or appeased by such objectionable practices.
The idea repels me.
What about willingness to die for a cause?
Is that in a different sphere?

Originally posted by MorphlingROR
I wonder what cause could be good enough to sacrifice somebody for a ritual? I agree with RedMeat here.

the ancient kelts did so to thank their deities for good harvests, victory in battle, assuring success when they needed it the following year or next battle...but as they started to be invaded the sacrifices grew more frequent and brutal as they sought to bring the attention of their war gods and not so much the fertitility deities they needed during a more prosperous time...in their eyes defending their country from invaders was a good enough reason to sacrifice...but i guess it wasn't enough for their gods...

Originally posted by Sybelle
Any gods of worth would not be charmed or appeased by such objectionable practices.
The idea repels me.
What about willingness to die for a cause?
Is that in a different sphere?

back to the kelts...many of their sacrifices were willing to die for their cause...death and dying like all things in my opinion depends on the person enacting it...is suicide by a person who's not happy any different from a terminally ill patient who kills themself to escape agony?

it's all relative to the person observing the activity...so i would have to say only if a person puts it into a different spear...

But is willingness to die for a god ie. in sacrifice the same as willingness to die for say your country?

Originally posted by Jordyn
is suicide by a person who's not happy any different from a terminally ill patient who kills themself to escape agony?
One is unavoidable pain leading to exactly the same end, the other is not.