Without being in a position to know how accurate the author’s research was, a fact of human remains: All through history, not very nice people have repeatedly led easily manipulated other people into rituals that are outside the norms of the religion they ostensibly worship. This happens all the time. Think Jonestown. There may be many trappings of the religion, language, superficial duties, etc, more to delude the ignorant or to appeal the elements that were fringy from the get-go, but the core of it is apostasy and destruction. The Middle Ages were rampant with superstitious practices, so apostacy in every religion abounded.
For example, how many people are aware that some Hindus have been caught sacrificing their children for wealth – greedy people who get hooked up with witchdoctors who instruct them to do so. Hindus? Aren’t they those harmless vegetarians? Well, most Hindus wouldn’t even dream of it, but there are a few who call themselves Hindus who have marched off into another realm. If an individual is behaving in a manner inconsistent with his stated religion, then rightly, he should not be known by that religion, but few people bother to make that distinction. If a Jew is caught practicing things forbidden by his religion, then one could say he’s Jew, but only in the sense as in which clan he belongs to,as in accident of birth, but he absolutely ain’t respecting the commandments that would mark him as a practicing Jew.
So, in all of history, it wouldn’t be a surprise that a few types actually carried out a twisted version of their worship, having been goaded on by literally evil leadership. It would never be correct to call those people as representative samples of their religion. So, that’s the problem. It shouldn’t even raise eyebrows, and should be dismissed as human nature rearing it’s ugly head, as usual. The claims the author is making will be used against the greater population of Jews in order to smear them, to aid their enemies. The fault lies with the individual people who commit atrocities, not with the overwhelming majority of non-involved worshippers.
That said, see how rumors start? The Christian sacrament – the Holy Communion, sharing wine and breaking bread to symbolise the blood and body of Christ, was transformed by heresay by excitable minds into the nasty rumor that Christians consumed real blood and real flesh in their ceremonies. It was an inadvertant by-product of the Catholic teaching that the wine and bread did transmute into the blood and body of Christ. It was quite plausible to the general pagan population at the time, because other contemporary religions were heavily reliant on sacrificial offerings, and made for easy ammunition for the opponents of Christianity.

naliaka on February 8, 2007 at 9:02 AM