Alexander The Atheist: Religion Kills

[Kyuuketsuki]

Parents Pray, Daughter Dies
March 27, 2008

An 11 year old girl from Weston, Wisconsin is dead because her parents decided to pray for her health to improve rather than seeking out the appropriate medical attention (source). Madeline Neumann died Sunday after her parents' month-long refusal to get her help for the treatable form of diabetes she had. Instead, they opted to simply hope for the best and attempted to faith heal their daughter, resulting in Madelin succumbing to diabetic ketoacidosis, which could have easily been treated with insulin. If ever there was a story that showed the capacity for the criminal destructiveness of faith and belief in the supernatural, this is certainly it.

The reaction of Madeline Neumann's parents was reported by the cited source:

The girl's parents, Dale and Leilani Neumann, attributed the death to "apparently they didn't have enough faith," the police chief said.

They believed the key to healing "was it was better to keep praying. Call more people to help pray," he said.

The mother believes the girl could still be resurrected, the police chief said.

That's right, according to Madelin's parents they apparently did not have enough faith. As far as I am concerned, not only did the Neumann's have too much faith they did not have enough good reason to get their daughter appropriate medical care. In fact, the Madelin's sacrificed both their reason and their daughter on the altar of faith and superstition.

To add insult to injury, Leilani Neumann actually thinks her daughter could be resurrected, and we can only assume that she believes faith is what can make this happen. Her parents seem completely oblivious to their role and criminal responsibility in the death of their daughter, instead focusing on a lack of faith and wishful thinking to cure her. Unfortunately, stupidity and religious faith are not valid defenses for involuntary murder and criminal negligence, both of which these parents should be charged with.

[Read More Here]

OK, I will go as far as saying it isn't actually religion itself that kills, it's ignorance but religion is still implicitly involved because it encourages that ignorance, it encourages people to be satisfied with the lot, to be staisfied with an ignorance based explanation of the universe, the world and their bodies.

This case was a while back so if anyone knows what happened to the parents (did they get prosecuted) I'd like to know ... is stupidity a crime? No but maybe it's important to tell people that this kind of thing is unacceptable ... burn the person who told them all that healing crap at the stake

Kyu