A couple of bloggins ago I wrote a sequel to the harms of religion. On of the cases has now met one milestone: the case of an 11-year-old girl who died of untreated diabetes when her parents, because of their religious beliefs, did not take her to see a doctor but instead prayed for and with her for hours while their daughter was dehydrating. The jury found the mother guilty. The father will face the same charges and get his verdict in near future. Meanwhile the parents' lawyer, Linehann, files an appeal because...
"Neumann didn't realize her daughter was so ill and did all she could do to help, in line with the family's belief in faith-healing. He said Neumann is a devout Christian who prays about everything and took good care of her four children.
The district attorney described the Neumanns as "religious zealots" which provoked new definitions from Linehan to the concept of 'religious zealot':
"'Religious extremism is a Muslim terrorist,' Linehan said. 'They are saying these parents were so far off the scale that they murdered their child. The woman did everything she could to help her. That is the injustice in this case.'"
Right, only Muslims can be religious extremists... my ass.
More "interesting" comments were gotten from Mrs. Neumann's step-father:
"He said his stepdaughter did nothing wrong in trusting in God to heal her daughter. 'We should have that right in this country,' he said."
The right to kill children? What did I just say about Christian principles... hmm... can't remember... it had something to do with this but I can't quite figure it out...
Anyway, Mr. "Not-a-Zealot" continues to flash his immense wisdom:
"'We definitely are not terrorists,' he said. 'We are Bible-believing, God-believing, Holy Ghost-filled people who want to do right and be right.'"
Holy Ghost-filled aside, the operative word of the above-quoted phrase is "who want to *be right*". They want to do right but most of all, they want to be right. Oh dear... again I'm filled with the sense of dejá vù...
(via Pharyngula; the whole story at http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/45850182.html)
