November 27, 2006
The truth of the Aztec religion was obvious to anyone seeing a sunset and a sunrise. These were a perfect proof that a perpetual war was being waged between the good, life-giving Sun and the evil, jealous, deadly Moon, egged on by the stars to kill the Sun. Every night the Sun was being brutally attacked by the Moon and the stars and nearly killed – yet every morning he emerged victorious, after hacking his enemies almost past recovery.
That daily victory of good over evil could only be achieved with a good deal of help. The nightly struggle was exhausting, and to give Sun the strength to fight through the night, Aztecs nourished him during the day by the hearts and blood of young men. The victims died gladly, knowing full well that they earned, just as did those who died in a battle, the privilege to be forever in the presence of the Sun god, to blissfully escort him in the guise of immortal humming-birds. Eternal bliss awaited the ten thousand killed annually to keep the Sun in the good, battle-ready, shape.
Keeping God happy by voluntarily dying in his service? No need to go half a millennium back into Aztec history to witness that. Turn on the radio and listen to the news from the Middle East. Of course, suicide bombers’ paradise is different from that of Aztecs – enjoying six dozen “pure virgins,” not flying after the Sun, is their presumed award. But the alleged pleasures of the other side of the great divide is where the difference between Aztecs and many of the Moslems end. On this side of it, there is no difference at all between the two.
This is not a coincidence, but a direct result of the fact that the present-day mindset of a great many Moslems is exactly identical to that of the Aztecs of five centuries ago. Both think that they can help their god. Both are assured that the great reward awaits them if they die while doing him a favor. Both are in possession of the ultimate Truth.
And this last point brings to the fore one other similarity between the Aztecs and so many of today‘s Moslems: religiously speaking, both are idol-worshipers – and in the worship of their idols, both practice identical rites of human sacrifice.