"A 23-year-old Nepali man cut off his right hand after morning prayers and offered it to Kali, the Hindu goddess of power, the Annapurna Post daily said on Wednesday."
 
Quote from Reuters
 
My readers, in the enlightened West, will shrug at the nonsense and brutality that still goes on in the name of religion in some benighted sections of the world.
 
"Kali is a goddess with a long and complex history in Hinduism. Although sometimes presented as dark and violent, her earliest incarnation as a figure of annihilation still has some influence."
 
Quote from Wikipedia
 
What type of a heathen would worship a goddess of annihilation? Kali has four arms and hands, it's not like she needed another hand from one of her devotees.
 
Actually, we shouldn't be so quick to make fun at the Nepali worshipper of Kali. The Hindu goddess may be dark and violent, but she has nothing on the Jehovah of the Old Testament.
 
Jehovah frequently ordered his Chosen People to commit rape and genocide. Deuteronomy 20: 16-17: But of the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth. But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee.
 
Oh, but you argue, that's the Old Testament, the Jesus of the New Testament is kinder and gentler than Jehovah and he would never order his disciples to do anything brutal or stupid.
 
The Gospel of Mark 9:43: And if they hand offend thee, cut if off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched.
 
My guess is that there are more Christians who have chopped off an offending hand in obedience to the Gospels than there are Hindus who have chopped of a hand as a sacrifice to Kali.
 
The bottom line is that all religions inspire their worshippers to commit idiotic, brutal and violent acts.