The film Little Buddha opens with a story about a monk killing a goat but the monk changes his life and becomes a protector of goats. The point...

The point of telling the story was to teach the children
that no animal should be sacrificed or hurt, which is basically the doctrine that their
religion follows and the reason why so many of them are
vegetarian.

However, the tale in itself is important
because it really brings out the topic of reincarnation, and demonstrates the
preoccupation about being born into an animal or into a human, or into something
important or not important.

Hence, although the priest was
not that altruistic, he still saw the point in the potential karmic effects of
sacrificing the goat, and what could happen as a result of wasting life
away.