Human sacrifices in the time of COVID-19: Differentiating between sacred offerings and inconveniences

Opinion

Matthew J. Walsh

In the wake of COVID-19 and its continuing casualties, we are inundated by references to human sacrifices. Not since WWII[i] have notions of human sacrifice been so in the public consciousness and so fore-fronted in the public record. Memes on social media pose questions like “Have we tried throwing a billionaire into a volcano to appease the virus?”[ii] or note that “In pagan cultures during a plague the ruler could be sacrificed to the gods…” Incidentally, both the throwing of victims into volcanos — or off cliffs — and the use of scapegoat sacrifices echo real ancient sacrificial traditions from across the world.[iii] Moreover, across social media and news outlets images abound of doctors, nurses and first-responders, grocery store clerks, delivery drivers and other essential workers holding signs or bracketed by texts that reference their victimization as human sacrifices.e.g.[iv] Sadly, this imagery is not inappropriate. Many of those regularly exposed to the public these days are at genuine risks in their daily service to their communities. Sacrificial ideas don’t just seem to be everywhere right now: they are. But how is the term ‘sacrifice’ appropriate for the current state of affairs? What are the implications for the notion of sacrifice as it is used by some to express a willingness to haphazardly expose portions of the population to the risk of deadly viral infection for the cause of economic equilibrium or ‘freedoms’ of social contact, versus the sacrifices being made daily by individuals dealing with the dangerous realities of the coronavirus pandemic to keep the public safe?

In the US, statements by some government officials (including the former president) and media personalities have gone so far as to implore citizens in no uncertain language of sacrifice to accept the grim realities that come with the COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent strains on society. Some have gone so far as to suggest the public sacrifice themselves and others for the sake of re-opening faltering global economies.[v] The implication is to concede that minorities[vi][vii],[viii], the working-class poor[ix], the elderly and infirm[x], and of course first-responders[xi] and healthcare professionals[xii][xiii] should be willing to pay the ultimate price for the good of the economy in the wake of pandemic-related shutdowns.[xiv],[xv],[xvi] But, when pundits say “we” must make sacrifices, they very rarely including themselves in the equation. Stephen Young’s excellent op-ed brings the absurd notion of human sacrifice for the ‘good’ of the economy into sharp focus.[xvii] The notion that we should make sacrifices of human lives (not metaphorically or in hyperbole) to bolster the monetized economy –essentially offering human lives for the love of money — is patently unethical.

The rash of state capital protests by anti-lockdown protestors[xviii] has also shown the disregard for public safety and civic good that a small[xix] (and increasingly armed) minority of Americans espouse in these troubling times. One Tennessee protest poster became infamous for its appropriation of the rhetoric of sacrifice, stating plainly that we should “Sacrifice the weak”.[xx] Tragically, many of the actual victims of this calamity are those risking their lives to protect and serve the public during this global crisis.[xxi],[xxii] These lock-down protests highlight a profound lack of community concern on the behalf of protesters which invalidates any notion that the inconveniences most of us face are anything remotely approaching ‘sacrifices’.[xxiii] Frankly, those dissenting to precautionary measures and closures are selfishly putting the lives of innocent people at risk.[xxiv]

Here is the difference between an act of sacrifice solemnly made and negligent homicide. Sacrifices by definition are meant as sacred acts.[xxv] The term ‘sacrifice’ literally means ‘to make holy’. And, regardless of any of the myriad particular religious connotations it may have, any act of sacrifice is unavoidably bound to the pursuit of communion, thanksgiving and cathartic ablation.[xxvi] But, above all else, sacrifices are meant for the greater good and are not to be undertaken lightly. To sacrifice is both an acquiescence of catastrophic circumstances and a resolution to alter those circumstances by the most unthinkable means necessary. Contrast this with secular acts of violence like murder or manslaughter, in which the death of a victim is devoid of value in relation to the act of killing. Even when misconstrued as sacrifices, such acts remain devoid of “social or moral values… without any consideration for the good of the community as a whole”[xxvii]. When individuals congregate to willfully flaunt self-distancing, shelter-in-place orders, or other measures meant for the protection of the overall population, they put members of the community at direct risk. The deaths that will result from subsequent and unnecessary exposures will not be sacrifices; they will be murders. And each such murder will have crowds of perpetrators.

A sacrificial schema: sacrificing to, for and of

So, what can we learn from those who would so readily make ‘sacrifices’ of others for their own selfish impulses? Here we may draw insights into the vicissitudes of sacrificial logics, specifically the making of sacrifice to, sacrifice for, and sacrifice of.[xxviii]

A sacrifice to indicates that something is destroyed as offering to some entity or supernatural power. This is meant to be a solemn show of gratitude and/or communion. A genuine sacrifice to is a gift given with no explicit reciprocal obligation beyond the onus to give.[xxix] But, if we concede to make human sacrifices to bolster the economy, is not the higher power we sacrifice to merely greed?[xxx]

To sacrifice for represents an offering made with the intention of achieving a particular purpose. This implies an expectation of reciprocity: X is sacrificed for Y. But, one may also sacrifice for a higher purpose. Various forms of martyrdom come to mind — e.g. the urge to self-sacrifice for an ideology. We may imagine that those on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis — if they associate their efforts with sacrifice at all — make such actions for the greater good of their communities and with the expectation that the public have the respect, wherewithal and resolve to heed the inconveniences necessary to not let those sacrifices be in vain[xxxi].

To sacrifice of makes the victim an object of exchange — a mere commodity. But, just as one may self-sacrifice for, one may also sacrifice of themselves– be it of their time, labor, money or other commodity, even of their own life or wellbeing. A secular and contemporarily relevant application of sacrificing of one’s self is to abide through exceptional hardship or cope through extraordinary adversity.

With this in mind, let us briefly consider the biblical story of Job. Job was both a righteous man and also quite wealthy. Piously, he made the standard animal sacrifices of his day, particularly in propitiation for the potential sins of his children (Job 1: 1–5). As the narrative goes, Satan is allowed by God to test Job’s faith. One by one, Job’s possessions and property are plundered and his servants slaughtered. His children are crushed to death whilst feasting. His health is radically compromised. Calamity befalls Job in definitively Biblical proportions. His suffering is so great that he even comes to curse the very day he was born. But, through it all, he remains resolute in his faith. Importantly, even when faced with sacrificing another to alleviate his own suffering (Job 2: 4–5), Job refuses. Job is willing to sacrifice of himself, to endure the difficulties of his ever-worsening situation, rather than add the lives of others to the sacrificial mix on his behalf. Regardless of its religious source material, Job’s story exemplifies resolution in the face of hardship. Parallels to modern-day ‘sacrificial’ responses in the face of COVID-19 can be seen in Job’s narrative: the sacrifices meant and made are secondary to the importance of the actor’s resolve in the face of adversity and his readiness to carry on through unthinkable circumstances. Ultimately, the emphasis is on the ethics of individual restraint rather than acquiescence to self-interested depravity during desperate times. Like Job, rather than relish the prospect of sacrificing others for our own ends[xxxii], we should all be grateful that our most minimal of efforts — in the present context, literally just social-distancing and maintaining basic hygiene — should carry such weight as to alleviate the need to sacrifice human victims.

Inconveniences are not sacrifices; sacrifices are not mere inconveniences

In light of this example, are any of the social-distancing measures or shut-downs that we are asked to endure these days sacrifices? No. Even in these uncertain times, most of us are not called upon to make real sacrifices, and certainly not human ones. Those of us not on the front lines of the war against COVID-19 need not engage with and define our current circumstances melodramatically as sacrifices. We do not need to make unnecessary victims of ourselves, and certainly not of others. What most of us make are concessions. This is not to say that the things we give up are not valuable or that our concessions are not difficult to make. But, value is relative, especially when plying in the exchange of human lives.

That which we give up for the greater good — be it our time, creature comforts, freedom of movement or capacity to interact in public — are not sacrifices made to, for or of; they are simply circumstances met. The sooner we collectively recognize these differences, the better.

[i] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/magazine/personal-sacrifice-coronavirus-world-war-ii.html

[ii] https://www.facebook.com/PaganHumor/posts/1564287993719443

[iii] Bremmer, Jan. 1983. Scapegoat rituals in ancient Greece. Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 87: 299–320; Hughes, Dennis D. 1991. Human sacrifice in ancient Greece. London/New York: Routledge; Frazer, James G. 1913. The Golden Bough, Chapter VI: The Scapegoat. London: MacMillan and Co., Ltd.

[iv] https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10122176153567374&set=a.10112152688262194&type=3&theater

[v] https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a31910755/coronavirus-republicans-sacrifice-old-people-stocks/?fbclid=IwAR2G9pHvQtbDEarizAXhMO6N5Az2q7htcCl16PrdDOBg_nfTUXZD8YV9LWg; https://www.yahoo.com/news/fox-news-brit-hume-entirely-131616086.html?ncid=facebook_yahoonewsf_akfmevaatca&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9sLmZhY2Vib29rLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAA1OwsVKzoZSnG2W88T7yx1nJDLwTi-NWnxpMu0NQ6vFBDwgW1v29zhfYOkhqgPqeOgYv5ZB_QK5FTK_jUEv9-XfuTlGTRYT9XS-fNB0pn19naBRNRpOL2OtCTFNAIP32UDiiLebN62Sa8Ng8_bMlcuUK5mDJabj2Gt-OF1C38xj;

[vi] https://www.salon.com/2020/04/18/who-will-be-asked-to-make-sacrifices-to-reopen-america-that-means-black-bodies/?fbclid=IwAR0uKAPRNZ1gDpFp7xyqmHC4Zr-ZvKk_BY1Kk6muAK0KyWP6mxckAykjfvo

[vii] https://www.democracynow.org/2020/4/9/Covid_19_sacrifice_zones_coronavirus_devastates

[viii] https://prospect.org/coronavirus/when-it-comes-to-covid-19-deaths-race-matters/?fbclid=IwAR2PAiSYaD7zwM-iCSXXwzw5IdQ1T_kku-gSttUnrrtCfBJLhRkR5F6yGFM#.XqckOuApXxg.facebook

[ix] https://www.brookings.edu/interactives/meet-the-Covid-19-frontline-heroes/

[x] https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-sacrificing-the-elderly-care-homes-asked-to-take-Covid-19-patients-11969661

[xi] https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2020/april/recognize-sacrifice-Covid-19-responders

[xii] https://www.icn.ch/news/high-proportion-healthcare-workers-Covid-19-italy-stark-warning-world-protecting-nurses-and

[xiii] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/nris-in-news/Covid-19-many-indian-american-doctors-in-frontline-make-ultimate-sacrifice/articleshow/75244041.cms?from=mdr

[xiv] https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/03/donald-trump-signals-he-might-sacrifice-thousands-of-americans-to-restart-the-economy/

[xv] https://www.rawstory.com/2020/04/who-will-trump-sacrifice-to-reopen-america/

[xvi] https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/03/trump-coronavirus-economy-recession-social-distancing.html

[xvii] https://religiondispatches.org/restart-the-economy-is-a-prayer-to-a-conservative-god-who-demands-human-sacrifice/?fbclid=IwAR1ApCyibUZaR4zSp3SavgSOSIH9jEA4KsxzO8-5po759Gw63QFfaO-m-sk

[xviii] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52359100

[xix] https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2020/04/right-wing-protesters-some-armed-demand-governors-end-social-distancing-measures/?fbclid=IwAR11JcMwmoklIjF6eA_su-aRO3eVr2xXyVF52i6xH2KPBVlWGOsTQF5jRyE

[xx] https://www.rawstory.com/2020/04/tennessee-anti-lockdown-protester-demands-state-sacrifice-the-weak-to-reopen-economy/?fbclid=IwAR3-lPP6ifTfKvnqEsvhHO5NN1Ghq4JHy6U8RQSQyUXgkjW6dZEVGckvbEs

[xxi] https://abcnews.go.com/US/year-daughter-detroit-responders-dies-coronavirus-complications/story?id=70256558&fbclid=IwAR2JaDNmty8KIppRTyn78viZqyCuyEXfqclD8VuOPYHFq_aH4FHSrUTXzf8

[xxii] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/27/nyregion/new-york-city-doctor-suicide-coronavirus.html?fbclid=IwAR3ynztFFhFTTPLXUgYHpma1KzKpr4c_9hWoiE8IKHRECuKlQE5RT2_rJCY

[xxiii] https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/keith-ellison-claims-trump-lterally-willing-to-sacrifice-people-for-personal-gain

[xxiv] https://nypost.com/2020/04/20/kentucky-sees-highest-spike-in-coronavirus-cases-after-protests/?fbclid=IwAR2N6uxrYsd5_ou8jtNBmg0akN2sRsLCLQIqbio62ZTkICL3EXzaqHqM9PA

[xxv] Fortes, Meyer. 1980. Preface: Anthopologists and Theologians: Common interests and divergent approaches. In Sacrifice, edited by M. F. C. Bourdillon and M. Fortes, pp. v-xix. London: Academic Press, Ltd; Hubert, Henri, and Marcel Mauss. 1964. Sacrifice: Its nature and functions. Translated by W. D. Halls. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

[xxvi] I have already discussed the definition of sacrifice as a sacred undertaking elsewhere: https://medium.com/@matthewwalsh_88661/suffer-little-children-human-sacrifice-child-sexual-abuse-and-the-catholic-church-37a40967a714?source=your_stories_page---------------------------

[xxvii] Bourdillon, M. F. C. 1980. Introduction. In Sacrifice, edited by M. F. C. Bourdillon, and M. Fortes, pp. 1–27. London: Academic Press, Inc. p.14.

[xxviii] Halbertal, Moshe. 2012. On Sacrifice. Princeton/Oxford: Princeton University Press.

[xxix] Mauss, Marcel. 1966. The Gift: Forms and functions of exchange in Archaic societies. Translated by Ian Cunnison. London: Cohen & West, Ltd. Although, Mauss (e.g. 1966: 15) would posit that there is always an obligation of reciprocation inherent in the exchange, whatever difference there may be in the size or scope of phenomena being offered or received.

[xxx] See again Stephen Young’s excellent critique of this notion at https://religiondispatches.org/restart-the-economy-is-a-prayer-to-a-conservative-god-who-demands-human-sacrifice/?fbclid=IwAR1ApCyibUZaR4zSp3SavgSOSIH9jEA4KsxzO8-5po759Gw63QFfaO-m-sk

[xxxi] https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10222078562777670&set=a.1998513007048&type=3&theater

[xxxii] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ex-bush-aide-donald-trump-coronavirus-strategy_n_5ea9393ec5b6123a176494a1?guccounter=1

…

This opinion piece stems from my ongoing involvement with the Human Sacrifice & Value project supported by the Research Council of Norway (PI Rane Willerslev; FRIPRO HUMSAM, project 275947). For an overview of the project please see (link) and to see our ongoing research and outputs please visit our website hosted by the Museum of Cultural History at University of Oslo, here.

A modified version of this essay appeared in Religion Dispatches.