A single woman living alone discovers a live animal sacrifice going on twenty feet from her back door in her neighbor’s tiny city backyard. When she complains, her neighbor begins to threaten and intimidate her until she is forced to sell her home. Rather than put a stop to it, the authorities all take a step back because the sacrifices are being done as part of a religious ritual. This is the first part of a documentary series that uses interviews, re-creations and actual footage to present this incident but also to explore the influence of religion on the daily operations of an American city. Freedom From Religion asks the questions: – When does one person’s freedom begin to take away another person’s freedom? – What are the rights of a practitioner of a minority religion…and what are the responsibilities? – Would we be better off WITHOUT religion? If you have experience with Santeria, or have a story about religion to tell, please contact me and you might become part of future Freedom From Religion webisodes! This video is for educational purposes only.
gatomjp
November 15, 2010 at 5:45 am
@typhon3808 We asked for a meeting to discuss what was happening but it never materialized. The priest and his people had no intention of educating us about what they were doing. It was either accept or leave.
gatomjp
November 15, 2010 at 6:22 am
@philnoll That’s not what she’s upset about. You don’t fully understand the situation yet. It’s about the lunacy of religious rituals being an exception to the laws the rest of us have to follow.
philnoll
November 15, 2010 at 6:30 am
she’s so upset about the killing of animals except for lunch and dinner.
gatomjp
November 15, 2010 at 6:30 am
@typhon3808 The area was not zoned for the handling of livestock. What part of that did you not understand??
TheNiiro
November 15, 2010 at 6:32 am
@mikepulcinella Yeah, but then that brings along the other side of things, where atheists like me have to suffer through the majority of the population being Christians, and having the word ‘God’ pop up and similar phrases derived from Christianity and Christian practices everyday. So they killed an animal, so Christians pray and think they know something, so I get stuck annoyed with this bullshit and I just want a life without this crap. But we don’t get what we want, so stuff it.
Sakamachi25
November 15, 2010 at 7:18 am
there is no defference between santaria goat killings, catholic cracker eating, musilim ramadam fasting, or aztec sun worship. ALL religion is a step backward in the progress of humanity.
ltheriot83
November 15, 2010 at 8:14 am
…But I can’t lie, those who practice Santeria are the wrong people to cross or have a confrontation with. I’ve seen some pretty horrific things in my life due to Santeria. However, I know my place and I respect it and those who practice it. My heart goes out to your girlfriend and she’s in my prayers.
ltheriot83
November 15, 2010 at 8:54 am
Its always best to check who your neighbors are, and if your house is haunted when moving to a new environment. I can understand her horror with the things she seen but I really don’t agree with the way that portray Santeria. Being that my father side of the family is from the Islands and they do practice it, so I respect it. Its not a bad religion, its just their way of doing things, just like Christians go to church on Sundays….
typhon3808
November 15, 2010 at 9:13 am
To continue. The stuff this ignoramus found in her backyard was indeed the remnants of spell work. The spell, however, was not a curse. It was a spell to send her away because of the way she was harassing this man and attempting to violate his Constitutional right to the free practice of his religion. This includes ANIMAL SACRIFICE. This man did nothing wrong. Again, the ignorance shown in this video is what is scary, not the religious practices.
typhon3808
November 15, 2010 at 9:20 am
The ignorance displayed in this video was disturbing to me. So the man killed a goat and a few chickens. Who cares?! The upset over the killing (for religious purposes) of things we normally eat for lunch is totally hypocritical. The funny thing is that (according to Pulcinella’s blog) Christian’s are immune to the powers of something like Santeria. Not so at all!
adzug
November 15, 2010 at 9:38 am
how can the police not be responsible for taking care of the incident?especially after you have video? i think i wudda got a weapon and called the police saying you have the actions of this man on file , i have a gun because hes unstable. my lawer knows this as well.
5tickupKidd
November 15, 2010 at 10:16 am
How did you recorded?
FamousRaia
November 15, 2010 at 11:11 am
@aikifan77 Right… hahaha.
FamousRaia
November 15, 2010 at 11:47 am
@Iworiogunda He wanted to discuss with Hector how he was disturbing someone he cared for, and felt unsafe in her own home, along with the rest of the neighborhood. I hope we can take that as a joke, but when really, it was a very serious matter about the neighborhood’s well-being. So if it wasn’t a joke, please grow up and think about the feelings and well-being of others.
FamousRaia
November 15, 2010 at 12:39 pm
This was not about the food we eat. This guy Hector was disturbing the entire neighborhood, therefore, violating the rights of the home owners, in that neighborhood. There’s a big difference who kills them, and the way they are killed. This wasn’t a farm where they kill a cow quickly, with the least about of pain. It was very clear Hector was torturing an animal for some sick pleasure or to please whatever god he must worship. So yes. it is very sad.
BloodTar
November 15, 2010 at 1:36 pm
“I didn’t know if he had weapons..”
Uuuh, the last time I read the US Constitution, we are allowed to have weapons.
“for someone to be able to do that (kill animals) themselves was very disturbing.”
Sounds to me like this woman and her enabler boyfriend think that hunters that also “kill animals themselves” are mentally disturbed.
ContaMuir17a
November 15, 2010 at 2:07 pm
I bet she ate animals. So she’s not innocent. What does it matter who kills them? If you eat them you’re not innocent. — But the guy next door was a real loony toon. And shouldn’t have been doing that in the small back yard of a metro area. He should have moved out to the country away from people. — Still a sick religious practice by any standards. Hexes? Curses? Sounds like black magic. Not a religion of peace or of God. Very sad.
83Hammerhead
November 15, 2010 at 2:27 pm
uhm I’ll pick freedom FROM religion, thank you!
gr8Sweetfox
November 15, 2010 at 3:05 pm
a lot of churches should be banned. I mean how sick is that. Freedom of religion.. lolz. If i say i steal from people and thats part of my religion.,. nah nobody would support that.
The world is so sick people some people are let their freedom. Sometimes i am afraid we need a moral law … about things like that. People should get faster to a mental hospital..
gatomjp
November 15, 2010 at 3:18 pm
@albettatrue It’s true. Further, if you violate zoning laws in your community you get fined or arrested. If you violate zoning laws for your religion there’s nothing they can do. Fair? I’d say not.
albettatrue
November 15, 2010 at 3:41 pm
If i kill an animal, i get arrested. If i kill an animal for my religion, it is legal? I refuse to accept that.
doxsey55
November 15, 2010 at 3:54 pm
@1paige If a person can be callous and not respond appropriately toward the pain of an animal, they can be callous and irresponsible toward the pain of humans as well. The mom is very sick spiritually and emotionally. She attracts evil spiritual energy, deluded by what she hopes to gain. She doesn’t realize the debt she is racking up, nor what she is throwing away. Get away from her as soon as you can, and stay away.
doxsey55
November 15, 2010 at 4:49 pm
@NihilNominis If perhaps justice finds you and your kind, and you have to face the door to eternal non-existence in the searing pain you have inflicted, you can, if you can even speak, let someone know if it is significant.
doxsey55
November 15, 2010 at 5:08 pm
@NihilNominis Pain is evil. The reason why any sane person endures purposeful pain (dentist, doctor) is only in order to avoid greater pain in the future. Why, because pain is a negative experience. Animals try to avoid it as we do. Do they not? Unless we are gladly willing to accept everything we inflict, we are unjust hypocrites. Every pain that originates with us, we deserve to return upon us.
NihilNominis
November 15, 2010 at 5:51 pm
I suppose if you want a fuller philosophical background of me to criticise, rather than try to explain it fully in 500 character bits, I’ll just give you my -isms. I am a Roman Catholic, and my thoughts on morality general have the Moral Theology of the Church at their heart; I am of course a human exceptionalist, as follows from my Catholicism, and I am not particularly given to fringe theologians who would impart more of a soul to animals than did Aristotle.