I can’t begin to tell you how much this bit terrifies me:

“The judge also realizes that jail time will not reform us, because he has witnessed our faith runs very deep,” the statement reads.

Translation: we did nothing wrong.
Extrapolation: therefor, we’ll do it again if similar situations arise.
Further: Yes, we are OK with killing children in the name of god.

Honestly, I don’t know what to say about this.

6 months plus probation.

At what point do we simply say that child neglect is A-OK?

I mean, seriously, I’m not sure what the details are on this but they did remove the kids and none of them had died.

So, crazy nazi parents are NOT ok, but crazy religious parents with a body count are just fine.

Jury finds Wis. mother guilty in prayer death — chicagotribune.com

“We accept the situation as it is for now,” Gordon said. “We worship our God. It doesn’t mean God loves us any less. Matter of fact is, he just loves us that much more. We will continue to seek justice.”

Really? God loves you more for killing a child?

Linehan countered, saying 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.

hm. I suppose so. I’m reminded of a line from the Simpson’s. “Doc, we’ve tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas!”
Just because you attach ‘god’ or ‘faith’ to an idea doesn’t mean you are absolved of responsibility.

“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.”

I thought that ending on a double-standard mixed with some cultural elitism and a hint of out-and-out racism was nice.

Dear Brian Gordon,
Perhaps you are confused by the ‘lingo’.  The prosecutors ‘forced the case through’ (whatever that means), and turned the place into a crime scene because, wait for it, a crime was committed.
I don’t know did about Wisconsin, but I’m assuming that child neglect and murder are crimes there.
Including murder in the name of god.
Hm…who else kills in the name of god?
Oh, yeah, like those 9/11 hijackers, and a whole lot of jihadis all over, and religious nuts everywhere.
When your child dies because you don’t take care of them, its murder, no matter who’s name you do it in.

All My Love,
He-Who-Dances-While-Your-Daughter-Rots
a.k.a. He-Who-Cried-Imagining-Your-GrandDaughter’s-Final-Hours
Brian Gordon, stepfather of Leilani Neumann, reacts to guilty verdict, calls DA’s office malicious | wausaudailyherald.com | Wausau Daily Herald

A jury found Leilani Neumann guilty this afternoon on charges of reckless homicide in the death of her daughter, Madeline Kara Neumann. Gordon suggested that prosecutors had forced the case through, “creating a crime scene” in the Neumann’s hom

Look, I can’t believe what hypocrites these people are, given that Ms. Neumann seemed to require medical attention during the first day, and didn’t demand that they leave her alone and just pray for her, but…

I continue to hope these people never see their children ever again since they are more than happy to murder them.

Further, I hope the exact same thing happens to these people who are trying to murder their son, Daniel Hauser.   These people are actually wore because they know EXACTLY what is wrong with him (the Neumann’s appear to have purposefully kept themselves unaware) and EXACTLY what the standard treatment will accomplish (something like 90% recovery rate) and they don’t care.  They care more about some religious/philosophical issue than saving their son.

Thats what it comes down to, and THAT is why people like this are dangerous.  They believe that magic and mystic spirits and souls are more important than real life.  And THAT is why they can’t be allowed near children.  There are no threats, no punishments, that can exceed the power these supernatural entities hold over them.

They are the sickness of awareness, of consciousness.  They are the disease.

(btw, I’m also fucking sick of the whole ‘parents rights’ issue that the media keep bringing into the situation, any more than beating your child with a bat is a ‘parents rights’ issue, or raping your daughter is a parents rights issue, or any of the other methods of abuse we don’t allow in this country)

Leilani Neumann Has Run Out Of Cash

Attorney Gene Linehan told a judge Friday that Leilani Neumann of Weston has already spent $12,000 in donations on her legal expenses and can’t hire needed expert witnesses for her May trial.
Linehan says all Neumann has now is a law book and Bible to defend herself.

Well, that should be plenty!
I mean, all it took was some praying to heal her daughter.
Oh…wait…no, all it took was some praying to murder her daughter.
My bad.

From StreetProphets

I don’t know what I find the most tragic aspect of this case to be.  That a child suffered and died a needless death.  That the parents of the child had such a narrow and distorted faith that their actions led to that death.  That those same parents now face charges and jail time on top of the anguish they must be feeling.  That there are three children without a sister and possibly without their parents.

This is what I was talking about.  Because these people did it in the name of faith, somehow it is tragic that they may be sent to jail for bringing about the death of their daughter.  If the parents had said, instead, that fighting off the condition on her own would make her stronger (an equally crazy viewpoint), there wouldn’t be one drop of sympathy.  Or if they’d done it because they just hate doctors, or distrust medicine for some other reason. 

I do feel bad that the other children are going to be seperated from their parents, however that increases their chances of survival markedly.

Religion should not be an excuse, should not be a ‘get out of jail free’ card.

They’ll almost certainly get away with it too.  All the defense has to do is convince one person on the jury that if we require people to be responsible for their actions taken in the name of religion then religious freedom will vanish.

All that has to happen is for one person to realize that they too might be held accountable.

All that has to happen is for one person to understand that they will no longer have a free pass because of ‘faith’. 

Thats all.

How hard could that be?

Deep down inside, I know that Madeline’s death is our fault as a nation.  We let them get away with it.  We refuse to ever question anything about religious beliefs (unless you are a scientologist…).

And, because of that, people continue to act without rational justification and we continue to say its OK. 

We continue to act as if faith in magic is a good thing to be praised.  We continue to let people make policy based on this magic and never question them or force them to back up their beliefs.  Perhaps if we didn’t, then someone would have felt free to call an ambulance, or the police.  But they didn’t.  And it isn’t surprising.

We don’t just grant freedom of religion (which is a good thing) but we give it complete and utter immunity.  No other freedom comes close to this.  Not speach, not bearing arms, not press.

Only religion can’t be questioned.

We killed that little girl.

Its OK, we killed our daughter because of our religion.  Shouldn’t we get a free pass?

A day before Madeline died, according to the criminal complaint, the father wrote an e-mail with the headline, “Help our daughter needs emergency prayer!!!!.” It said his daughter was “very weak and pale at the moment with hardly any strength.”

Fuck you.