Sacrifice (from a Middle English verb meaning 'to make sacred', from Old French, from Latin sacrificium : sacer, sacred; sacred + facere, to make) is commonly known as the practice of offering food, or the lives of animals or people to the gods, as an act of propitiation or worship. The term is also used metaphorically to describe selfless good deeds for others.

Theologies of sacrifice

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The theology of sacrifice remains an i.e., not only for religions that continue to practice rituals of sacrifice, but also for those religions that have animal sacrifice in their scriptures, traditions, or histories, even if sacrifice is no longer made. Religions offer a number of reasons for why sacrifices are offered.

• Gods need sacrifice to sustain themselves and their power.
• Sacrificed goods are used to make a bargain with the god, who has promised some favour in return for the sacrifice.
• The lives or blood of sacrificial victims contains mana or some other supernatural power whose offering pleases the god.
• The sacrificial victim is offered as a scapegoat, a target for the wrath of a god, which otherwise would be visited on the followers.
• Sacrifice deprives the followers of food and other useful commodities, and as such constitutes an ascetic discipline.
• Sacrificed goods actually become part of a religious organisation's revenue; it is a part of the economic base of support that compensates priests and supports temples.
• The sacrifice is actually a part of a festival and is ultimately consumed by the followers themselves; often this includes an element of redistribution where the poor get a larger share than they contributed.
• The sacrifice may be a sign of a covenant between a god and His people.

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