Evolution, animal sacrifice, and justification

Somehow a friendly discussion ended up talking about animal sacrifice this afternoon. I am still puzzled. Perhaps no body cares about what I say here. Yet no one is able to convince me of his or her so called righteous justification.

Are species continuing to evolve? Are the unfit becoming extinct or are we, the self proclaimed superior species pushing some to extinction by manipulating the environment or justifying our actions. Some continue to sacrifice animals in the name of religion even after thousands of years. They claim to be religious. Their justification is that if we can kill to eat, what’s wrong with the sacrifice; after all it will be consumed. I have no problem when it is part of a food chain, i.e. big fish eating a little fish or a lion hunting an animal for food. However, I have a problem when we as hypocrites sacrifice one in the name of religion or to receive blessings from God or to go to heaven. Does God create the animals too? If so, does he want to be blamed for killing one of its creation in his name?

Let us not do it in the name of religion or sadistic fun (like bull fight, water buffalo fight, dog fight). If you are hungry and it is your diet, so be it. Don’t kill it in the name of God or religion; let us be honest. Religion, tradition, social practices must evolve with time. Just because we did it in the past does not justify continuing it. Past is dead and gone. Let us reason out our future actions from the past. If something was reasonable in the past because of knowledge of the time (or lack of it such as the Sun going around the earth, worshipping snake, being afraid of eclipse, or trying to please God to avoid his (or her) wrath by sacrificing animal or even human, etc), it may not be reasonable now. In a dynamic world nothing can be static, not religion, not tradition, not social stigma, not superstition. If we claim to be the best of the animal kingdom, we have no right to take the life of a meek animal in a hypocritical way in the name of the creator, if you believe in one.