How does killing an animal "honour" it? Do you think the animal would feel privileged if it knew what was going on?
The ritual is a ceremony to give respect to the animal ur gonna eat. Also i don't think animals can feel privileged.
In terms of harm, I think there may very well be less harm (or at least less stress and suffering) in a modern slaughterhouse that's been designed to keep the animals calm while being handled and where the animals are stunned before killing than in some ritual that could very well stress the animal before it's killed. That goes double if the person killing the animal doesn't know what they're doing or is hesitant.
You havn't seen video of slaughter houses have you? It is NOTHING like that, it is pure hell and fear before they die as they are handled with little concern. Go see how they deal with Chicken or cattle and come back and tell me if the animals seemed calm. They literally pull chickens by their legs on conveyor belts across a blade that slits their throat.. hanging upside down. I've seen videos of slaughter houses.
I'm the first generation of my family in a long time to not be raised on a farm. My mother is a nurse and my grandfather a retired professor, and both were raised on farms. As well I literally live on an unused farm and have farmer neighbors living outside of town. I would find someone that could advise me on it. I don't think cutting the throat would be that hard in most cases.
But as for "evil", I think that brings intent and mindset into it. What are you trying to accomplish through sacrifice? I don't think it's just a matter of preparing a meal, is it? It seems like a lot of trouble to go to if this is the case.
This was mentioned in our topic on animal sacrifice I made in the LHP directory. Essentially it helps us understand our relationship to food better and what all goes into actually getting meat. One of the posters reported he felt a more intimate connection with his meat and actually ate less of it because of his experiences of animal sacrifice.
Also, as I asked you in chat: are you taking pleasure in the killing in your ritual? If so, I think it's very dangerous and disturbing.
Is it disturbing to take pleasure in eating dead animals and consuming their flesh? I like bloody steak I won't lie, but I would think that killing an animal would take something out of me. But as for the spilled blood? You can't eat blood anyways so why not spill it for whatever higher power suits your fancy?
Enjoying the fact that soon you will have food is not disturbing, you do eat it after all. If you just killed it but didn't eat it that would be a problem though.
And you seem to be trying to point out hypocrisy in people who don't approve of ritual slaughter. With that in mind, I have a question for you: where do *you* get your meat from that you don't kill yourself? Do you eat those "slaughterhouse hamburgers" yourself?
To my shame, yes. But I hope I can change this one day or at least buy organic food. Stuck financially though so I can't do that right now. I do live on a farm though and could raise some animals for food if I wanted I guess.