O’Brien, Animal Sacrifice and Religious Freedom (book)

1. What is the role of animal sacrifice in the Santeria religion?
2. When and why did the animal sacrificial practices of Santeria first become a political issue in the United States?
3. When the Church of the Lukumi sought to operate a worship center in Hialeah in 1987, what were the initial objections?
4. The History of Animals Rights in America: O’Brien gives a potted history of animal rights and the following questions are related to his discussion.
   1. What was Jeremy Bentham’s view of how animals should be treated?
   2. A view that contrasts with Bentham’s is the rationalism argument: humans and animals are different because animals lack the capacity to reason. This argument prevailed (and for many still does prevail) since Aristotle popularized this view in the fourth century B.C.E.  Which do you think the more persuasive view, Bentham’s or Aristotle’s?  Why?
5. What was the origin of the earliest animal welfare groups in America?
6. Although Congress first legislated for animal welfare in 1958, when and why did the animal protection movement become a broader cultural effort?
7. When the Hialeah City Council was debating whether to allow the Church of the Lukumi to use the land for worship services, what did the city attorneys advise and what did the state attorney general later advise?
8. How did the SCOTUS treat free exercise claims under Oregon v. Smith?
9. What were the bases for the trial court’s ruling in the Lukumi case?
10. What was the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals’ view of the Lukumi case?
11. What was the reasoning of the U.S. Supreme Court majority and minority opinions in the Lukumi case?