Exorcism Suspected After Girl Found Dead

[Must_B_Free]

ATLANTA (AP)--A 6-year-old girl was found dead in a motel room with a broken back Monday after what police said may have been an exorcism. Two adults were arrested after they and two children were spotted on the street naked in the freezing cold.

The adults, who had been staying in the motel room, were charged with cruelty to children, public indecency and obstruction of police and were taken to a psychiatric ward.

...

The two adults had apparently been living there for some time, possibly through assistance from a church, Quigley said.


more
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/ap/ap_story.html/National/AP.V1732.AP-Child-Death.html

[arcane1]

1. sigh, here we are in 2004...

and people are still killing and torturing children over "demons" and "evil spirits"...


can we stop this ride, I want to get off...

[dorktv]

2. That is so sad...I hate it when kids die...

Especially when it is by a parent.

[Just Me]

6. A parent "possessed",...

,...by the likes of Jerry Falwell & Pat Robertson & evangelical TV freaks combined with the likes of a culture where "circumstance" is proof of personal "fallacy".

These people are symptoms of a sick country,...in my humble view,...as is our embarassingly high rates of violent deaths and domestic violence and mental illness and over-populated prisons and economic desparities.

We have some very serious problems in this ridiculously wealthy nation. Those problems should not be so extreme considering our "wealth",...but, they are considerable. Apparently, we out do the vast majority of the world in such problems. Yet,...oh, well,...perhaps focusing upon "fixing" everyone else's problems will make ours somehow,...go away.

[htuttle]

3. But...but...

WHY were they all walking down the street naked?

I don't remember that part being in the Exorcist...maybe it's part of some evangelical exorcism rites? Are there any, or do they just improv?

Just...puzzled...

[Tripper11]

4. Chances are....

the child suffered from some kind of untreated mental illness. That was my first thought. I have a 10 year old son who has been diagnoses both bi-polar and disorganized schizphrenic at one time or another. These are by far not definitative but my point is, if anyone had seen the way he reacted to certain things or the meltdowns he used to have and still does on occaision, and they were fundy types I would bet my bottom dollar they would have thought about excorcising the demons.

Sad, sad, sad....billions of $$$$$ are being poured down the drain for the war machine and yet so many suffer, here, there and everywhere.

[AndyTiedye]

5. And Bush* Wants To Turn Social Programs over to these Fundies!

Soon exorcism will be another government-sponsored "faith-based" program if Bush* has his way.

They killed an autistic boy in Milwaukee last August http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/08/25/autistic.boy.death
beat another kid so badly that his kidneys failed http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/state/7405262.htm
and now this.

[Just Me]

9. The "fundies" are part of the "CAUSE",...

,...this situation is merely the symptom. Wanna cure? Find a vaccination against fundamentalism. I am a Christian. I Love and am an adherent to the vision of Jesus. The fundamentalists are simply misdirected and do terrible harm by their confusion. They just,...fail to properly funnel their desperation and struggle and anger and disappointment.

[leftofthedial]

7. in the name of Jeebiz I command you!

to get a frigging clue.

we seriously need some chlorine in the gene pool.

[JoeNormal]

8. This is so sad...

One of the first areas to be cut back in state budget cuts is always mental health. This has been going on for twenty years. This has a great effect on the high crime rate figures we see. There are people, citizens, who need help and that help is not available. We desperately need to put funding back where it belongs.

I may be jumping the gun on this particular case, but this is a serious problem that needs to be addressed.

[Tripper11]

10. I totally agree...

but as I said in my post above...CHANCES ARE...we don't know for sure and I don't want to make assumptions based on nothing.

But yes mental health is so very important, especially considering how the Bush* junta has fucked with all our minds!

[AndyTiedye]

13. Bush* Wants to Take Away Such Funding & Give it to "Faith-Based" Programs

Will the government be paying for exorcisms next?

[mike1963]

15. But, Joe, we need to send some folks up to Mars. Didn't you get the memo?

Welcome to DU...

;-)

[JoeNormal]

17. Thanks for the welcome --

Yeah, spending billions going to Mars and space station on the moon while millions of people are out of work and struggling -- makes a whole lot of sense don't it -- BushCo. will be toast come election time.

[enki23]

11. got religion?

got a mental illness.

[leftofthedial]

12. uh oh!

well at least you didn't say "fairy tale" or "superstition" or "imaginary" or "cloud being."

Maybe they'll let this one pass.



on edit: still can't type

[enki23]

14. i don't see why it wouldn't

you can interpret what i wrote in quite a few different ways. take your pick.

[mike1963]

16. I sorta like "deistic delusions". Has a ring to it, eh?

:D

[leftofthedial]

18. duck and cover!

you've just created an opening for hundreds of "deist" versus "theist" flames!

Aaaaaaarrrgghhh! No!

Ssshhhhh. Let's be really quiet. Maybe they're all busy defending Lieberman or Clark on the GD Campaigns forum.

[enki23]

19. don't fan it.

the point here is that these people are seriously fucked up. not all religious people are screwed up like this, obviously, but their religion might provide a convenient cover for the fantasies they choose to indulge in, a comfortable, accepted background for their own particular delusion.

no particular religion has a monopoly on crazies. i'd bet that if we looked at it closely, we'd find the percentage of crazies within each of the world's major religions to be about the same across the board. but i think, simply in general, it's dangerous to allow yourself to believe things simply because you *want* to believe them. we all do it to some extent, obviously, but rewarding each other for doing it, by rewarding those with the most inflexible "faith", we provide far too much incentive for people to indulge in irrationality. on a purely behavioral basis, we reward certain forms of irrational behavior, and we do it largely, though certainly not exclusively, through these things we call religions.

but mostly, i'm just pissed off that somebody murdered another kid in the name of some god, or other. it makes me sad. and angry.

[joefree1]

20. Too late

I have a problem with any elitist religion that preaches it's beliefs are the "only way." Any religion or political movement that says it has the monopoly on truth encourages it's followers to be intolerant of others. At the very least they will consider others to ignorant and at the very worst unbelievers will be thought of as servants or slaves of evil.

Dangerous stuff.


http://www.newpagan.com

[leftofthedial]

21. I agree

messed up people.

Hurting or neglecting a child is an unforgiveable crime in my book.