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This article discusses issues related to slaughter of animals in religious ceremonies. Substituting an animal for a human is a common theme in sacrifice. During China's Shang dynasty, beginning about 3700 years ago, oracles suggested that sacrificing 10 oxen was roughly equal to sacrificing five men. Sharing a table with the gods is still part of daily life in some places. Santeria, a religion blending west African Yoruba beliefs with Cuban Roman Catholicism, still sacrifices goats, chickens and guinea pigs to gods, with a feast to follow. Santeria claims to have some 5 million followers globally, and growing.

The article focuses on the protest by Jose Merced, a Santeria priest to a local ordinance in Euless, Texas that bans the slaughter of goats, a part of sacrifices required by his Afro-Carribean religion. Merced contends that the ordinance has violated his constitutional right to the free exercise of religion. Lori Windham, Becket Fund attorney, asserts that the issue of Santeria and animal sacrifice was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.