13-Year-Old Boy Killed by Deeply Held Religious Beliefs of His Parents

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A friend sent me this as a “cut n’ paste”. I did fact-checking and I’m sorry to say that this story is true in all particulars (see this and this and this).

BMD

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The parents of 13-year-old Alex Radita are on trial for murder in the death of their son. Members of the Romanian Pentecostal Church in Calgary AB, the parents had deeply held religious beliefs against seeking medical treatment for their son. Alex had Type 1 diabetes and other illnesses. His parents stopped his treatments. They declared that if he could find a way to survive without insulin and dietary regulation, he’d live… if not, they’d know that his death was God’s will. By the time of his death, Alex weighed less than 40 pounds. After his death, his family and members of the Pentecostal assembly prayed over him for some hours, expecting that God would raise him from the dead. Only after these prayers were over did they call 911 to report his death.

SOME DEEPLY HELD RELIGIOUS BELIEFS CAN BE FATAL, USUALLY TO THE INNOCENT. Remember the hieromonk who killed a young woman in northern Romania a few years ago by trying to exorcise the schizophrenia out of her. Yes, there are limits on religious freedoms, and well there should be, since we see occasions when the deeply held religious beliefs of some groups turn out to result in homicide. It does matter if it is somewhat rare for this to happen in North America, even once is too often. Alex Radita was a human sacrifice to his parents’ deeply held religious beliefs. He should be alive now and looking forward to his 14th birthday. It would be useful for someone with the time and ability to research how often incidents of this have occurred during the last century. Take into account the forbidding of blood transfusion by certain religious groups (based clearly on Scripture) and the refusal to turn to medical doctors by some others. In addition, we should review the episodes of death due to exorcisms and publish them along with the others.

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Be careful with the term “sincerely-held religious beliefs”… you could end by justifying violence and bigotry. This isn’t an isolated case, sadly enough… be especially wary of homeschoolers and those who advocate physical punishment of children… they cloak evil under the guise of “Christianity”. All too many of them are “nice” and “respectable” people, so externalities often cloak a pietistic and smarmy apologia for violence and rightwing indoctrination. Have a care… we live in evil times; some of the worst sorts justify their ill will and crank notions with saccharine religious platitudes. Our children suffer…

BMD

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23 September 2016. ALL LIVES MATTER EQUALLY

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As a leftist, I know that ALL LIVES MATTER EQUALLY. The fact that they don’t is a scandal. Remember, there’s a War on the Poor… race doesn’t matter. The Affluent Effluent demonises the poor… uninformed working-class zhlubs eat it up. Here’s the sad part… a minority of cops commit most of the police violence, but crooked pols and their fatcat oligarch bosses protect the abusers. As a good cop told me, “If we tell the truth, we lose our jobs; they send us to the joint”. This can’t last forever. It started under the Clintons, interestingly enough…

Black Lives Matter isn’t an answer… do think on it. Too often, it does things to hurt the Cause… that’s why I’m convinced that provocateurs are within it. Have a care, there IS a War on the Poor; the Affluent Effluent doesn’t scruple at using movements such as BLM to hurt us. JUSTICE FOR ALL… until then, let’s not form divisions in our ranks, whether they’re racial, national, creedal, or partisan (the end in view does call for that). SOLIDARITY FOREVER… we should never forget that. Let’s stop doing demented things such as stepping on flags… that only gives fodder to our foes. Not standing for the Anthem is fine… publicising bad cops’ violence and demanding justice for it is fine… but wiping one’s feet on the American flag isn’t a good thing. There’s a right and a wrong way of “being right”… let’s not help the oligarchs and their Upper Middle running-dogs…

We have a chance to do something about it… let’s not ruin it by buying into divisiveness and faction. Remember, we face a clever foe that doesn’t want to give up its ill-gotten gains. Keep it focused, kids…

BMD

23 September 2016. A Word on the Duopoly’s Warmongering

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Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than about peace, more about killing than we know about living.

General Omar Bradley

General Omar Bradley said that a war on the Eurasian mainland would be “the wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy”. This is precisely what Chilly Hilly and Trump want. That is, the USA would play to Russian and Chinese strengths and force the USA to play its weakest hand. It’s stupidity of the highest order. Either the Russian or Chinese land forces, taken separately, outnumber the American land forces. As all three forces are modern and well equipped, it means that the USA lacks the power to face either Russia or China on the land. Most of US defence expenditures go to operations or corruption, so, the US forces aren’t as well-armed as their putative foes are. All grunts will tell you that Russian gear isn’t only better; it’s made of wrought iron and dead simple to operate. The last time that the USA faced the Russians and Chinese, they whipped the US forces in Korea (do recall the American rout at the Chosin Reservoir). Hillary wants to provoke the same foes. The last American-fomented conflict was South Ossetia… Russia won that one. Vickie Nuland, one of Hillary’s protégés, fomented the present crisis in Novorossiya. Things aren’t going well for the American clients or the USA there either… they do kill hundreds of innocent civilians, though. There’s one solution… vote for peace… vote for Dr Jill. That is all…

BMD