A murder committed as part of a religious ritual. It is mainly carried out by cults and devil worshipers, and is particularly common in the United States.
In 1970, a Satanist killed a woman and offered her flesh to the devil, then ate it himself. In 1982, as many as eight women were murdered and had their breasts cut off and sacrificed by four Satanists.
There have been many other killings committed as sacrifices to the devil.
Ritual killings can sometimes also be contrary to Satanism, that is if carried out as a form of exorcism.
In Japan in the 1980s, there was an incident in which a person killed their demon-possessed friend by strangling him in order to cast it out, and then dismembered their body to prevent it from taking it over again, based on the belief that "demons cannot be expelled unless the flesh dies".
In the same decade, the second son of a family was possessed by an evil spirit, and the eldest daughter and son assaulted and killed him in order to expel the spirit.
Also, there are many cults that commit mass suicide for the sake of their doctrine.
In 1997, in California, U.S.A., 39 people belonging to a cult committed mass suicide with the intention of "being reborn in another world".
There have been numerous other cases of mass suicide in the name of martyrdom in various other religions.
Because ritualistic killings are done as a form of ceremony or ritual and have a religious significance, such as an offering or sacrifice to the devil, there is no sense of guilt on the part of the one who committed the murder.
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