“butchered” and occurs frequently in a sacrificial context in the LXX (see Gen. 22:10). Thus, it implies a religious butchering—a slaying wed to piety, murder laced with prayer. In such a setting, how is this type of conflict viewed from the inside? What pastoral priorities come to the forefront when the wonder of religion is dashed because religion itself is being used as a weapon? This pastoral question has been illustrated for me in an interesting way among the pastors of the churches in Palestine,