In our modern sophisticated world, we look down on those early “primitive” cultures (including our own) that made human sacrifice to their gods, and we wonder at the brutality of their priesthoods and the demonic nature of the deities that would require such a thing. Over time, we seemed to have evolved, and animals were sacrificed on those altars instead of people, but the dominant version of one of our major Western religions centers around the sacrifice of a man-god to appease his father-god, while in the Celtic world, sacrifices of beautifully-made implements were made in bodies of water. Sacrifice came to mean “making sacred” and we hear of sacrificing less-desirable things for more valuable outcomes.
We may judge such things “primitive” and unenlightened, but our modern life is full of human sacrifice adorned with civic rituals. Soldiers are sent into declared and covert wars (often to save the wealth and power of a select few); and their deaths are called “sacrifices.” Whole populations are sacrificed to poisons to save industry’s profits. Apostates and heretics to free-market capitalism are targeted and demonized. Weapons of war and killing are cherished and regarded by some as a sacred gift. Women’s well-being is sacrificed to save this patriarchal society that was built on outright slavery and still thrives on economic slavery and misogyny. Perhaps worst of all, our society is quite willing to sacrifice children to war (if it’s other peoples’ children), to poisons in the environment and for the profit of weapons manufacturers.
We are also willing to sacrifice the health of the land, the purity of the water, the cleanliness of the air we breathe and even the truth so that those in power can seek the blessings of their god of money. And to elevate their greed, they invoke the American constitution as though it were a sacred scripture. They are like the ancient priests, enchanted by their dogmas, unable to grasp the consequences of their action, indifferent to the suffering they cause, and unwilling to stop the poisons and bloodshed.
Thus, we still cherish and justify our cult(ure) of sacrifice, even if only for the enrichment of the temples of our devotion (markets and manufacturers) and the holy objects we think will save us. Or evolution has a long way to go.