Faith Fails Again and Again and Again

...and it failed one too many times for Neil Beagley, member of the Followers of Christ Church:

Authorities say a teenager from a faith-healing family died from an illness that could have been easily treated, just a few months after a toddler cousin of his died in a case that has led to criminal charges.

...

An autopsy Wednesday showed Beagley died of heart failure caused by a urinary tract blockage.

He likely had a congenital condition that constricted his urinary tract where the bladder empties into the urethra, and the condition of his organs indicates he had multiple blockages during his life, said Dr. Clifford Nelson, deputy state medical examiner for Clackamas County.

"You just build up so much urea in your bloodstream that it begins to poison your organs, and the heart is particularly susceptible," Nelson said.

Nelson said a catheter would have saved the boy's life. If the condition had been dealt with earlier, a urologist could easily have removed the blockage and avoided the kidney damage that came with the repeated illnesses, Nelson said.

Benton said a board member of the Followers of Christ church contacted the authorities after Beagley died at his family's home. The teen had been sick about a week, and church members and his family had gathered to pray Sunday when his condition worsened, Benton said.

In March, the boy's 15-month-old cousin Ava Worthington died at home from bronchial pneumonia and a blood infection.

Her parents, Carl and Raylene Worthington, also belong to the church. They have pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and criminal mistreatment, and their defense attorneys have indicated they will use a religious freedom defense.

The damn kid bet on the wrong horse. Instead of betting on God, and on faith, he should have bet on a hollow rubber tube being shoved up his pee-hole.

Do you understand the implications here? A hollow rubber tube is more powerful than prayer. Faith was called to task, and faith failed epically.

I'm not surprised, and it's a shame that these faith healers had to be surprised. If only they were regular readers of my blog, they would have already known that faith fails again and again and again and again and again...

Offspring Murder Club: California Chapter

When stories like this appear, as they so frequently do, what else nees to be said about the danger associated with the belief in ghosts, demons, and the like?

Some 27-year-old man in California beat his 2-year-old son to death on a rural road before being shot by cops. The man was heard saying that his toddler son was infested with demons, CNN reports.

Sergio Casian Aguilar, 27, parked his truck on an unlit road Saturday night, removed a 2-year-old boy from his car seat and proceeded to stomp, kick and punch the boy to death, authorities said. The boy was unrecognizable when he was pronounced dead at Emanuel Medical Center, the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department said.

Authorities have not released the boy's name but say they believe he was Aguilar's son. The Stanislaus County coroner and the California Department of Justice are testing DNA to confirm the relationship.

Several motorists called 911 and tried to stop the beating, authorities said.

Dan Robinson, a local volunteer fire department chief, told The Modesto Bee that at first glance, he thought the child was a dead animal in the road. He said when he realized it was a child, he tried to stop Aguilar.

He said Aguilar had a "total hollowness in his eyes" and talked calmly of the boy being filled with "demons."

Witness Lisa Mota told the San Francisco Chronicle that Aguilar told people who tried to stop him that the boy was "trash."

Hey, genius! Even if demons were real, they can't be killed by physical means, right? So what good does killing your son do, even if he was infected with demons? Well I suppose it's like those pigs that Jesus had cast into the ocean, lemming style. He probably thought that the boy would be freed, or would transition to the afterlife, and not have his consciousness totally terminated from any and all existence.

That's what afterlife belief does. It makes the thought of infanticide more bearable because death isn't really death, but just a transition to another life in another dimension. Afterlife belief removes the finality and profundity of death from the equation.

If there's an afterlife, then people can't really "die," can they? And killing your 2-year-old son isn't really an evil act then, but a way of freeing him from demon infestation, right?

This man was a fuckwit and the only shame here is that the cops weren't able to gun him down in time to save the toddler. A 2-year-old is now a victim of afterlife belief.

Welcome to the Offspring Murder Club, Casian.

Jesus' Thought Police

I just found this iReport video of some Kristian Krusaders harassing attendees of a gay marriage ceremony. Listen to the confused words coming out of the guy's mouth with the Jesus shirt on.

He seems harmless enough now, but how much would more it take to get to the point where Kristian Krusaders like these end up having their own anti-gay kristallnacht event?

The Kristian declares at one point that this gay marriage ceremony, where he himself is not getting married, somehow persecutes his faith! Fine. Two can play at that game. Let's assume that this guy's religion is being persecuted by two non-Kristians who are having a gay wedding. Using that logic, it can be demanded in return that all Kristians stop wearing clothes and stop reproducing because doing so likewise persecutes my faith.

If only the government didn't stick its nose into marriage either way, then everyone would be free to recognize or not recognize whatever marriages they want.