The Law of Sacrifice: the Proof of the Pudding is in the Dying Richard A. Koenigsberg Societies produce political death that we call war, genocide, revolution and terrorism. The desire to generate political death grows out of attachment to and belief in an ideology conceived as absolute. Violent political acts areundertaken in order to validate the ideology: the proof of the pudding is in the dying. Dead and mangled bodies on the field of battle testify to the “truth” of an entity or idea: that entity or idea which is the cause of the dying. People cannot conceive that massive suffering and death have occurred in the name of no thing. They conclude that  suffering and death has occurred in the name of some thing.  The nature of the entity or idea for which people have died is fungible. People have died for France, for Germany, for the British Empire, for the Communist revolution, for Allah, for the Emperor, for a Tamil homeland, to preserve the Union, and for “freedom and democracy.” One may identify the core idea defineing a society by posing and answering the question: "What is the nature of the idea or entity in the name of which members of the society are willing to die." The method of verifying a sacred ideal remains the same, regardless of the content of the ideal. Sacred ideals come into being to the extent that human beings die for them. This is how we come to know that they exist.