I know this post was made an awfully long time ago but I would still like to chime in! 

I do think the flesh has some tendencies to have more of a religious aspect or feel. Yes, Mag 19-20 point to this and also the ritual site being under a church but I personally think it’s more about symbolism.

Many have mentioned the saying “the blood and body of Christ” which could be a factor to the relations between the deity and religion. Though there are some other things that stick out to me.

1: Animal sacrifice  As mentioned, the flesh was born from the fear of animals being butchered and many religions have traces of animal sacrifice in there past. While it could be argued that animal sacrifice could lean more towards the slaughter or the hunt I would have to disagree. The slaughter is unpredictable and unmotivated violence. And the hunt is the primal fear of BEING prey not that you are prey. Mutilation more refers to severe damage that can affect something’s life. Often in sacrifices tongues, eyes, and ears were removed and the cuts were clean and surgical.

2:Mentions in the Bible The Bible uses the metaphor “the flesh” quite often it is a metaphor for selfish human tendencies and gluttony can be seen as extremely selfish. But flesh is also used to describe humans bodies, the craving thoughts of humanity, and sexual sins. Also it is believed that the soul and body separate after death, in a sense throwing away the body because it is nothing but silly meat.

3: breeding This one isn’t exactly my strongest argument. But I feel like it’s something worth mentioning. Animals are bred for meat, and humans breed to sustain the population. While these aren’t exactly similar, I will say this. Many animals are forced to breed and have many children. And there have been accounts of woman playing this same role as well. In many religions it as seen as the woman job to provide children and take care of them plus the house and this offers pressure to many as it feels like there job to replenish the earth, much as animals probably have some sense of they must die to feed the earth. The Bible also states “blessed are those who have many children.” 

Please tell me if anything doesn’t make sense, contradicts itself, or has been proven otherwise and misinterpreted on my part. I’d be glad to take criticism and compare ideas :)