One Child Per Month is Killed Because of Their Parents Religious Belief
Lauruhhpalooza posted the article a few days ago about the parents who killed their daughter because their religious beliefs prevented them from seeking medical help. The brief recap: Kara Neumann died of diabetic ketoacidosis on Easter Sunday 2008; she could have been easily saved by known medical procedures but her parents let her die because of their religious beliefs. They killed their child for fear of their imaginary friend!
Today I stumbled upon this article, its a long, heart-wrenching, infuriating read. It centers the story around Kara, and the impending trial of her parents; but also has some statistics and other general information about similar child deaths. One of the shocking tid-bits is that some surveys estimate 500,000 Americans with religious beliefs that prevent them from seeking help from modern medicine. The most shocking and agonizing though is that in the last 25 years there have been 300 cases of children deaths where modern medicine could have easily saved the child, but the parents' religious beliefs prevented them from seeking the help that would have saved their child's life. That comes out to a sickening average of ONE CHILD PER MONTH for the last 25 years!
What's worse is that the religious community is declaring Kara's parents as heroes for standing up for their religious belief. Several groups are calling for charges to be dropped, and another is raising money to hire them the best defense money can buy.
/deep breath/
I can tolerate people's religious views (as long as they leave us non-believers alone); but its stuff like this that really gets me worked up. I have to fight down the feeling that extreme measures should be taken against religion.
Kara Neumann 1996-2008
Today I stumbled upon this article, its a long, heart-wrenching, infuriating read. It centers the story around Kara, and the impending trial of her parents; but also has some statistics and other general information about similar child deaths. One of the shocking tid-bits is that some surveys estimate 500,000 Americans with religious beliefs that prevent them from seeking help from modern medicine. The most shocking and agonizing though is that in the last 25 years there have been 300 cases of children deaths where modern medicine could have easily saved the child, but the parents' religious beliefs prevented them from seeking the help that would have saved their child's life. That comes out to a sickening average of ONE CHILD PER MONTH for the last 25 years!
What's worse is that the religious community is declaring Kara's parents as heroes for standing up for their religious belief. Several groups are calling for charges to be dropped, and another is raising money to hire them the best defense money can buy.
/deep breath/
I can tolerate people's religious views (as long as they leave us non-believers alone); but its stuff like this that really gets me worked up. I have to fight down the feeling that extreme measures should be taken against religion.
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Comment by Sophie on January 27, 2009 at 5:46am -
That comes out to a sickening average of ONE CHILD PER MONTH for the last 25 years! I would have expected that number to be higher.
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Comment by Daphne on January 27, 2009 at 7:33am
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i agree with you Soapy
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Comment by SabreNation on January 27, 2009 at 2:27pm -
Things like this are why I can't compell myself to even feign respect for "people of faith." Around the middle of the article he summed up my EXACT thoughts on the whole situation:
"After all, the only differences between this case and September 11th are the number of victims, and the fact that the perpetrators were not even fortified with enough of their foul “faith” to kill themselves too."
Murder is murder and if there is any justice at all those two will spend a very, very long time in prison. Of course, IMO, the only true justice for their dispicable act would be to tie them to a bed and leave them to rot and die slowly just like they did to their daughter.
That article actually made me feel physically sick to my stomach. Some people are just absolutely disgusting.
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Comment by Johnny on February 25, 2009 at 1:48pm -
Some additional info on this subject for anyone interested...
In 1944 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled: "Parents may be free to become martyrs themselves. But it does not follow they are free, in identical circumstances, to make martyrs of their children" But in all but five states, parents who let their children die from treatable illness can invoke religious beliefs as a defense against charges of neglect or child abuse. - - Another example of separation-of-church-and-state ruled on at the federal level, and disregarded at the state level.
Found via an older article, but a good write-up over at DaylightAtheism.org.
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