It’s not every day that the vice president publicly ruminates on ancient brothels and child sacrifices.
At the pro-life rally March for Life earlier this month, Vice President JD Vance’s speech made a surprising detour into the macabre, leaning heavily on lurid imagery while claiming that Christianity ended cruel and barbaric child sacrifices practiced by pagans.
Vance relayed anecdotes about ancient brothels, a hidden cache of baby skeletons, and ancient Mayan sacrifices – and for a moment you might be forgiven if you thought you’d accidentally tuned into a true crime podcast, rather than an official speech from the vice president.
In his comments, Vance cast the abortion debate as a binary choice between God or the “barbarism” of paganism, a framing that left little room for nuance or historical complexity.
But not everyone agrees with the vice president… or even thinks he has his facts straight about ancient faith practices.
Vance Makes a Bold Historical Claim
“I read an article some time ago about classic archaeology,” said Vance at the January 23rd rally. “One particular piece of information has haunted me: that one of the telltale signs of an ancient brothel in the pagan world was that you’d always find a large number of baby skeletons nearby – a lot of baby skeletons; and those bones predominantly belonged to boys because, unlike little girls, those boys would be of no use to the future adults who were running those brothels.”
“From the skeletons in brothels to the child sacrifice of the Mayans, the mark of barbarism is that we treat babies like inconveniences to be discarded rather than the blessings to cherish that they are,” the VP continued. “Even those of us who aren’t particularly faithful, it’s a shocking thing to hear. But we remember that in the ancient pagan world, discarding children was routine.”
Vance then asked the audience, “whether we will remain a civilization under God or whether we ultimately return to the paganism that dominated the past.”
What Was He Talking About?
Vance appeared to be referencing the 2008 discovery of 97 infant skeletons in a mass grave in the UK, at the site where some archaeologists believe a Roman brothel was located some 1,800 years ago.
The archaeologist who initially discovered the skeletons, Dr Jill Eyers, first posited the brothel theory. Because infant boys would be of no use to a brothel's business, the theory goes, discarding them made sense as it was one less mouth to feed.
But other scholars aren’t convinced.
Brett Thorn, keeper of archaeology at the Buckinghamshire County Museum, disputes the brothel idea. "My main concern with the brothel theory is that it's just too far away from any major population centres. I'm just not convinced," he stated.
Thorn continued:
"There are a few significant religious objects from the site that indicate possible connections with a mother goddess cult. They may indicate that the site was a shrine and women went there to give birth, and get protection from the mother goddess during this dangerous time. The large number of babies who are buried there could be natural stillbirths, or children who died in labour."
A False Binary?
Critics pushed back on Vance’s view of Christianity swooping in to save children from the brutality of paganism. For one, they note, Christians have been party to widespread child abuse, neglect, and death themselves throughout history.
“Now do the mass graves of children at religious schools,” wrote one commenter. “As if this country wasn't founded by chattel slavers in order to sacrifice half a continent's entire human population ‘for God and Country’,” said another.
Others suggested that if Vance wanted to talk about dead infants, he could simply open his Bible.
Are Children Killed In the Bible?
The Bible contains numerous passages in which the killing of children is not only described, but at times commanded or condoned. From the slaughter of Egyptian firstborns in Exodus, to the destruction of entire cities (including women and children) in the books of Joshua and Samuel, child death is a recurring feature of biblical warfare narratives.
In 1 Samuel 15, God commands King Saul to kill “men and women, children and infants.” Elsewhere, the binding of Isaac is framed as a test of faith that requires a father’s willingness to sacrifice his own child.
While theologians have debated and contextualized these passages for centuries, their existence complicates any claim that Christianity represents a clean moral break from violence against children.
Black and White Morality
Vice President Vance’s statement not only draws a line in the sand between pro-life and pro-choice, but also through civilization and barbarism. For Vance, his beliefs – in Christianity, in the pro-life movement – are the modern and morally righteous way.
Abortion, by contrast, is a cruel, pagan practice from a primitive and heathen age, according to the vice president.
This framing draws sharp lines, painting a clear story of good and evil. It's also a story that the nation’s tens of millions of pro-choice Christians (and roughly one million pagans) are likely to disagree with.
As any scholar can tell you, history can rarely be put into such tidy moral categories.
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