Why is it that the wackiest and cruelest of human activities are so often practiced in the name of religion?

In India there is an ancient Hindu ceremony called “the festival of the pits,” in which people briefly bury their children alive. The children, some less than a year old, are drugged into unconsciousness and then placed into shallow “graves” dug in the courtyard of a temple. The children are then covered with leaves and dirt for up to one minute as a Hindu priest prays over them. The children are pulled out after the prayer is complete.

The Indian government has been trying to stop the practice by imposing jail time and fines.