It’s really tough for me to feel bad for someone who ruins their own life based on irrational beliefs. For example, thinking you have magical Jesus powers and can walk on water, but end up drowning (true story - I should post it up here at some point).

What really gets to me, though, is when other lives are ruined based on such nonsense. Especially children.

An 11-year-old girl died after her parents prayed for healing rather than seek medical help for a treatable form of diabetes, police said Tuesday.

Vergin said an autopsy determined the girl died from diabetic ketoacidosis, an ailment that left her with too little insulin in her body, and she had probably been ill for about 30 days, suffering symptoms like nausea, vomiting, excessive thirst, loss of appetite and weakness.

The girl’s parents, Dale and Leilani Neumann, attributed the death to “apparently they didn’t have enough faith,” the police chief said.

The mother believes the girl could still be resurrected, the police chief said.

An 11-year-old died because her parents refused to seek medical assistence. Period. Instead, they focused solely on what they wanted to be true, rather than the reality of the situation. The fault of their daughter’s death is completely in their hands, and I really hope the prosecutors seek charges against the parents for negligence, even manslaughter.

The fact that the parents think they did nothing wrong really scares me. I do not understand how people could be so completely wrapped up in their own religious delusions that not even a dying daughter can make them seek help outside of their faith. Thankfully, the majority of people are not like that. But even that some exist and aren’t commonly scorned as they should be is depressing, especially when incidents like this one happen.

Further discussion on this topic on the forums.