As the western world detaches from its Christian foundations, we should expect that more children will be devalued and harmed in more ways. A consistent feature of pagan societies is for children to be in danger. We should expect the same as a society repaganizes.  

Recently, a history teacher from Littleton, Colorado, went viral for praising the way the Incas, her favorite empire, sacrificed children. She also reprimanded “white education” for wrongly teaching generations of Americans that the practice was bad. I’m not making this up.

After noting that human sacrifice was common within most ancient civilizations, the teacher clarified that the Incan version offered victims from the upper class because they were closer to the gods. Also, the Incas drugged children before leaving them to die of exposure on top of a mountain. Objections to this cultural practice, she continued, are primarily due to a white perspective, which focuses on the negative aspects of great civilizations while ignoring their wonderful accomplishments.

Defending child sacrifice is the ultimate expression of cultural relativism. In this view, all cultures are equally valid, except white cultures that judge others. To paraphrase a former colleague, there is no difference between cultures that love their neighbors and cultures that eat their neighbors.

Of course, this teacher’s innovative defense of the Incas misses a few important points. First, children as young as four were sacrificed. Even if they could consent at that age, does that make it any less horrific? But of course, they cannot. The teacher fails to mention evidence of a 4- to 5-year-old child who was tied up before being buried alive. The simplest explanation for drugging the young victims is minimizing resistance…not kindness.

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