Historians are wearing out the use of religion to explain every mystery in ancient cultures.

Take the ancient cultures of Incas or Mayans. Anytime we see a depiction of someone being killed in public it is chalked up to a religious sacrifice "TO THE GODS". What translation confirms that for certain? Why could it not merely be a public execution of a criminal or other person.

Don't you find it hypocritical how we demean ancient cultures as barbarians when they kill citizens, yet, our leaders condone execution as necessary in our society?

SACRIFICE OR EXECUTION?

Human sacrifices and slavery were common all over the world. There are plenty of insciptions and writings to verify this.

I agree that it is hypocritical to denounce religious executions of the past while condoning state executions of the present. It is either ok for people to kill a helpless person who cannot defend themselves or it is not. Any futher debate is just to give excuses to do it.

In Ancient Mexico, the Aztec people use to sacrifices murders and rapist to the Gods, so they could sort them out in the afterlife!

World wide the number one choices for human sacrifice were always slaves and prisoners of war. Ancient Euros, Asians, Americans, Africans, Middle Easterners, all did this.

Why sacrifice? How is that not merely a civil criminal execution? Why must it be "to the gods?"

It's like expecting, in 1000 years, for the historic account of the American Death Penalty to eventually be portrayed as sacrifices to the gods of Democracy by Right Wing Republican Evangelists or something?

Can we just get the History and Discovery channel people to at least mention that it might be mere public execution and not always go the religious route by default?

For civilizations that were literate and their insciptions and records state that the people killed were relgious human sacrifices it would be politcally correct lies of revisonist history to say they were other than what the people who did the killings said they were for.

I would not let it bother you so much. There is no continental history that does not include human sacrifices because of religions, spiritual beliefs, or philosophies at one time or another.

It was something the entire human race had to overcome and leave behind in the past, not just a few peoples here and there.

Most of the evidence on mayan and inca sacrifices indicates that sacrified people were very young, almost children, which does not fit with the execution theory. Moreover they were often sacrified in lonely temples in the mountains, which neither fits with an execution, that should be an example for other criminals.

On the other hand Spanish conquistadors reported azteca human sacrifices in public ceremonies using war enemies, which is closer to an execution, but they did it playing complexes ceremonies in temples, involving religious rituals.

do some homework...