Ich klage nicht an. Ich stelle nur fest: Religion kann töten. Auch ohne Selbstmordattentäter und Kreuzzüge. Auf grausame Art und Weise noch dazu:
An 11-year-old girl died after her parents prayed for healing rather than seek medical help for a treatable form of diabetes, police said Tuesday.
[...]she had probably been ill for about 30 days, suffering symptoms like nausea, vomiting, excessive thirst, loss of appetite and weakness.
[...]The girl has three siblings, ranging in age from 13 to 16, the police chief said.
“They are still in the home,” he said. “There is no reason to remove them. There is no abuse or signs of abuse that we can see.”1
Genau, Herr Polizeichef. Man muss ja auch den Glauben der Eltern respektieren. Das ist ja ganz wichtig. Denn es waren ja nicht die Eltern, die ihre Tochter durch Untätigkeit umgebracht haben. Es waren.. äh… widrige äussere Umstände, genau.
Still sieht die Gesellschaft zu, wie irgendwelcher Aberglaube Jahr für Jahr Elend und Tod über die Welt bringt. Selbst mitten im Herzen des Westens, den USA.
Weitere Kommentare dazu:
I’d actually put the girls death down to criminal negligence. There is no reason that girl should have died at all. A relative got so concerned about the girl’s welfare that they phoned the police. A relative in another state had to call the Police to get the poor girl any sort of proper attention and, sadly, it was far too late. Think about it … a relative in another state was so concerned that she called the Police and the Parents didn’t even take the child to a Doctor?2
The fact of the matter is that these parents were following the teachings of the Bible. God isn’t “the great physician” no matter how many times you say that he is.3
They attribute their daughter’s death to lack of faith. Convenient, isn’t it? If Madeline recovered, they would think that prayer works. Since she died, they did not have enough faith. Either way, reality does not impinge on their fantasy world. No matter what the outcome, no matter what the consequences, nothing can shake their belief.
Certainly they thought they are doing the right thing. They were convinced that prayer is more effective than treatment. However, this conviction does not change that they are incompetent, abusive, theistards, unfit to ever raise children.
If your crazy neighbor truly believed that shaking a baby is good for the baby, he would shake that baby out of the best of intentions. Nevertheless, would you let him hold yours? Especially if he has already shaken one baby to death? So why the fuck do these parents get to keep their other three children?4
- pharyngula – None so blind as those who will not see [↩]
- matt’s notepad – Girl Killed by Ignorance and Stupidity [↩]
- tiny frog – Religious Faith results in Death [↩]
- spread rationality – Prayer instead of care: is it child abuse? [↩]
