Animal Sacrifice: Protected Under First Amendment or Not?
Animal Sacrifice: Protected Under First Amendment or Not? Tuesday January 15, 2008 Coming right on the heels of Florida’s goat-decapitation problems, now the folks in Texas may be in for a legal battle. Several dead chickens were found in North Beach, and the county prosecuting attorney says he might be filing animal cruelty charges against whoever left them there. However, authorities are also speculating that the chickens were sacrificed in a Santerian ritual. This raises the question as to whether or not animal sacrifice as part of a religious ceremony is protected under the First Amendment. In Texas, attorneys are saying it isn’t… but the First Amendment is a federal statute, not a state one. Furthermore, it has been argued in other states — Florida, for example — that animal sacrifice is protect
