I disagree completely. Anti-vaxxers threaten herd immunity and indirectly cause the preventable deaths of infants and children. Any chance to counter-act a shameless puff-piece for someone who advocates for such deadly nonsense is fair and should be taken.

All true. A good point that religious abstention is not the same as moral or health abstention.

Sigh, I'm not a vegetarian so you can take your misplaced bile elsewhere, son.

Bah. While relatively little is known about what the Anglo-Saxons ate, you can be sure that most peasants never saw meat throughout Europe except on rare occasions, and even nobles wouldn't have eaten meat on Fridays or during Lent. Also, it wasn't uncommon in the medieval period for ascetic Monks to avoid meat…

Ha! As I mentioned, I think your general observation about our collective capacity for the ol' ultraviolence is spot on, so hopefully my reply read as head-nodding followed by engaged debate.

Okay, I'll bite. Though I don't disagree with your central point that humanity has a surprising capacity for spectacular rituals involving death, I'd be interested in hearing about these north and central American 'tortures' you're referring to.

Sorry, but I don't think belie means what you think it means.