Needless Deaths

A few months ago, I was reading the news from back in the States and stumbled across a gem of an article dealing with a couple of parents who let their daughter die, believing that the symptoms she had been showing for months leading up to her coma and death were nothing more than demon possession. I remember commenting at the time that the parents were likely going to face criminal charges as a result of recklessly endangering the life of a child, as well as charges stemming from her death, which was for all intents and purposes, murder.

Sure enough, they are now facing reckless manslaughter charges, according to this article.

Now, something I have to question right off the bat, is the sanity of the parents. What is really sad about this story is the month's worth of suffering this poor little girl had to deal with prior to her eventual death. Relatives and neighbors say that she began wasting away months prior to her death. She was constantly fatigued, had no appetite, had several seizures, and in the final days before her coma she was unable to walk or even speak, before finally slipping over to the other side.

I am appalled by the actions of such parents. It is terrifying to think of how far religious zealots will go in following their religion. They will fly planes into buildings, commit suicide by blowing themselves up, and kill their children through sheer stupidity.

Come on. Diabetes is a COMMON disease, and is easily diagnosed by doctors, as well as being entirely treatable.

Religion makes people stupid. I'm going to go on the record here and state that yes, I do believe in "God" in the sense that I believe in a powerful being who created everything and watches over us, but I do not follow any "religious" organization for the very reasons above: they are all a bunch of whack-jobs. (personal opinion!)

When I was growing up I was forced to go to a Baptist private school. They taught that having hair touching your collar or your ears was a "sin", and that you would burn in hell for it. They also taught that wearing anything other than slacks, dress shoes, and shirts with ties resulted in "not taking care of your appearance" and since your body is the "temple of God", your appearance should reflect the fact that your body is holy. Therefore, anyone wearing anything other than their approved attired was a "sinner" and was going to burn in hell for mocking God's temple. I remember being 13 years old and having to shave on a daily basis and I went without shaving for 2 days once and I received after-school detention for "disgracing" God. Whackjobs. Every one of 'em. They preach tolerance and acceptance but judge at every turn. I could go on with examples from every religion around the world (not just Christian religions), but that's not the point of this post. The point of this post is to point out that sometimes religion gets in the way of simple common sense, and leads to needless deaths.

I was sick to my stomach when I read that article the first time a few months ago. It brought it home again to me when I read the article today, thinking about the months of suffering that poor little girl had to go through, feeling her body literally wasting away, and being too little to understand what was going on. Her death was absolutely unnecessary, and her parents should be locked away for the rest of their natural lives for allowing such an atrocity to occur.

I can understand people's need for religion, and I absolutely do respect a person's choice to worship in whatever way suits them best. But when religion gets in the way of common sense...maybe you should get your head checked. Preferably BEFORE you kill someone with your stupidity.