“Milton Blahyi, a former feared rebel commander in Liberia’s brutal civil war, has admitted to taking part in human sacrifices as part of traditional ceremonies intended to ensure victory in battle.”

Wow. This is a really sad story, revealing how brutal humanity can be. If you want to learn more, read about Blahyi’s revelation after the jump:

From BBC News:

[Milton Blahyi] said the sacrifices “included the killing of an innocent child and plucking out the heart, which was divided into pieces for us to eat.”

There had been numerous rumours of human sacrifices during the 1979-93 conflict but this is the first time anyone has admitted publicly to the practice.

Mr Blahyi, 37, is better known in Liberia as “General Butt Naked” because he went into combat with no clothes on, to scare the enemy.

This is amazing, that as recently as 15-35 years ago people were killing innocent children as part of rituals to help them win in battles. Religion may benefit some, but sometimes religion can drive people into doing things that are morally objectionable to the mass of society.

Between the time he was ordained a “traditional priest” and the time he stopped fighting, he said, “more than 20,000 people fell victim – they were killed.”

It’s a sad fact that people can be responsible for the deaths of thousands in the world and not be punished for their actions. Even though he is now a preacher and speaks out against the idea of human sacrifice and senseless killing, his actions of the past still happened. Should a person like this be judged by his previous actions or should he be forgiven if he changes drastically? How would one punish actions that happened so long in the past? These are just a few of the tough questions with no easy objective answer, as one’s own morality and subjective perspective will affect one’s view. Though essentially everyone can agree that human sacrifice and the killing of innocent children are horrible examples of some of the worst that humanity has to offer.

At least Blahyi seems truly apologetic for his actions, though it will do little to repair the damage or replace the lost lives:

“I could be electrocuted, I could be hanged,” he said. “But I think forgiveness and reconciliation is the right way to go.”

[BBC News Link]

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