Talk:Animal worship

Persistant problems
I managed to get rid of a lot of the POV problems, although many still exist. On problem is that the very title of this page (worship) is not accurate in all cases. Many of the examples are not true worship, but veneration (if even that much). I also fixed up the gross over-use of semicolons and modernized a lot of the names. As for accuracy, there's a lot of stuff I simply couldn't find info about. Mostly on the groups of people that are so obscure as to lack a Wikipedia article of their own. --Tydaj 00:23, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC) Also, I was surprised that no mention of Animism was made in this article. There is much to be said about the relation of these two subjects. --Tydaj 00:28, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC)

"Hawk" god
According to the Firefly Encyclopedia of Birds, ISBN 1552977773, Singalang Burong is not a hawk but a Rhinoceros Hornbill. I haven't changed the article because I don't know whether that applies to the other gods mentioned under "hawk". &mdash;JerryFriedman 17:35, 27 July 2005 (UTC)


 * I know at least that Horus was not a hawk, he was a falcon. 74.133.204.141 (talk) 08:42, 6 October 2013 (UTC)

Watership Down cult?
Does anyone have any information on the Watership Down cult mentioned in this article? Such a thing is difficult to believe, though not impossible. (I have heard of people believing The X-Files or The Necromicon are real.) Any references would be greatly appreciated Hiergargo 02:48, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

Reliable sources for the term dharmic religions?
Where are the reliable sources that use the term dharmic religions in the context of this article? Dharmic religions is a now deleted obscure neologism and should not be used throughout Wikipedia. Andries 15:55, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

I propose to use the alternative phrase Indian religions. The number of google scholar results for "Indian religions"+"Indian religion" is (45.600 + 84.200) while it is only (492+475) for "dharmic religions" +"dharmic religion". See Deletion_review/Log/2007_September_8. Andries 19:21, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Merge with sacred animals
I propose that the article Sacred animals be merged into this one as the topic is the same.Neelmack (talk) 19:57, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Worship and holding sacred
One can hold an animal to be sacred without worshipping considering the animal itself to be a deity, or believing in a zoomorphic deity. Zoroastrians consider dogs to be sacred, but they do not worship dogs. I think the case with Hindus and cows is similar. That is why I started the article sacred animals (now merged to this one), because positive religious attitudes towards particular animals can be a lot broader than the term "animal worship" properly describes. So I would suggest, either a separate article for the broader phenomenon of sacred (but not worshipped) animals, or else renaming this article to something like sacred animals. --SJK (talk) 07:31, 28 March 2010 (UTC)

Animals in Buddhism
The Buddhists of Japan hunt whales, fight dogs, use monkeys for entertainment and research... and vegetarianism is far less common than the post Christian West.. need I say more?andycjp (talk) 02:16, 13 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Firstly the predominant religion in Japan is Shinto rather than Buddhism, secondly, as you can read in the intro to Religion in Japan, the majority of people in Japan say they have no personal religion. Invertzoo (talk) 00:07, 3 November 2010 (UTC)

Removed cock content
Nergal is mentioned in the Hebrew bible as the deity of the city of Cuth (Cuthah): "And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal" (2 Kings, 17:30). According to the rabbins, his emblem was a cock and nergal means a "dunghill cock". It is understood that the constellations of the Zodiac within the belief system of Astrology originated in the ancient land of Babylonia (modern day Iraq). In the lore of the True Shepherd of Anu(SIPA.ZI.AN.NA - Orion) and his accompanying animal symbol, the rooster and their divinely ordained role was to communicate the messages of the gods. "The Heavenly Shepherd" or "True Shepherd of Anu" - Anu being the chief god of the heavenly realms. On the star map the figure of the rooster was shown below and behind the figure of the True Shepherd, both representing the herald of the gods, in his bird and human forms respectively, with Nergal being an idol and worship of the Assyrians, Babylonians, Phoenicians, and Persians that is claimed to continue on today.

Worship and sacrifice of the cock within Agama Hindu Dharma may be understood by the altar and deity Ida Ratu Saung who may be seen with a fighting cock in his hand with the spilling of blood being necessary as purification to appease the evil spirits. That ritual of the religious and spiritual cockfight usually takes place outside the temple proper and follows an "ancient and complex ritual as set out in the sacred lontar manuscripts".

It is stated in the Encyclopædia Britannica (2007): "Humans first domesticated chickens of Indian origin for the purpose of cockfighting in Asia, Africa, and Europe. The understanding of many archaeologists is that "chickens were first domesticated not for eating but for cockfighting" and "it is believed to be a sophisticated offshoot of divination. . . The question was decided through a fight between sacred roosters", and thus a sacred cockfight.

I have removed this large section of text as part of badly overdue cleanup based on a November 2012 deletion decision. While some of this material appears to be referenced, material related to that AFD generally used unreliable sources and misrepresented the statements of sources to produce a novel synthesis. Squeamish Ossifrage (talk) 17:30, 21 March 2013 (UTC)

And another one
What is with all these weird, "worship" articles. This should probably be moved, as well. Oh deer... - Co rb ie V  ☊☼ 16:26, 26 September 2015 (UTC)

Proposing massive cleanup and rename to Animals in mythology or similar. Either that or we cut every instance of cultures that simply use animal symbolism as it's incorrect to say they "worship" animals. - Co rb ie V  ☊☼ 16:43, 26 September 2015 (UTC)


 * OK, it's been over a month and this article is still a mess. I'm planning on moving it, though I'm not sure it's worth cleaning up. May need to just be cut way back. - Co rb ie V  ☊☼ 19:23, 13 November 2015 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 23:09, 18 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Diana of Versailles.jpg