What do you think of the mother in this situation?

Question

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1043972/Toddler-starved-death-religious-cult-wouldnt-say-amen.html

A toddler was refused food after refusing to say "amen" after mels. He and his mum were in a religious cult. She held him while he took his last breaths.

Was she (age 21) as much of a victim, as he, as her father is claiming?

She has been arrested for the crime.

Answer 1

can you call her a MOTHER, i think not stormy, victim my ****

A r s e

Answer 2

I think she is a disgrace to humanity.  There are no excuses for her.  The same thing should be done to her.

Answer 3

The poor child..

Although, his parents seem so incapable that perhaps he's in a better place, than to have people like that in his life

(I know it sounds terrible..but it's probably true. It's probably put him out of his misery out of YEARS of torture..)

Answer 4

Yes, I do think she is a victim - and I think the cult should be charged, as well as the mother.

I've never figured out what the difference is between a cult and a religion, but as I was brought up in apparent cult, I know how easily this kind of thing happens.  

Relgious people are taught to obey - through fear, through desire to please.  They live their lives either in terror of God, or of Satan and his demons, or of upsetting "his" servants.

It is why organised religion of any description is so dangerous - it removes the ability to think clearly.

And that is why churches should take responsibility for their doctrines and teachings.  They should be more capable of love and teaching that love.   And at the top end of that cult is a figurehead - and it is that figurehead that bears the responsibility.  The leader of the cult should be arrested, with the mother and father.

Answer 5

Ahe 21 is no excuse for such cruelty.

She wasn't 12 for heaven's sake.

Answer 6

Nothing should prevent a Mother from caring properly for her child. She's not a victim, she's a stupid, weak selfish person who deserves to be punished. Let's hope she never has any more children because she obviously isn't fit to be a Mother.

Answer 7

Unforgivable to both parents, that poor child......

Answer 8

As a mother of a small child myself, that article put a huge lump in my throat and while I would like to just join the "kill the *****" bandwagon, I have to say that I think that that poor girl must have obviously had serious issues (mental ones that would make her not legally responsible, that is) or was under some serious duress, to have allowed her to witness, let alone take part in what happened so I can't completely feel she is responsible.

I also think that zealous belief in anything can cause people to do things that people who don't believe the same things they do will think are completely insane. Does that make sense?

Answer 9

well i suppose until a trial, we wont know how much she might have tried to fight against the indoctrination, but you might have thought that if you felt it was wrong not to feed him and that you were being forced by the other members, you might make a bid to escape. i notice that the maternal grandmother had tried to get custody of the child, i wonder why or who made the decision that the child should stay with his mother and what the outcome of this case now, means for the person that made that decision. its an awful case, these people and those like them, are nutcases.

Answer 10

This mother must have been severely brainwashed by whoever instilled such garbage into her to make her go against her most basic instinct, that of nurturing her young child.

Truly terrible.  How could anyone not notice what she was doing and how wrong she was until it was too late?  Poor little child.

Her incarceration will release her from the clutches of this cult, then she will be able to clearly see what she has done, and have to live with her conscience forever.  Poor woman.

Answer 11

Ever notice that there aren't any happy stories concerning a cult? They all end in tragedy and have for decades. That would kind of suggest that one should stay away from whacko cults.

Answer 12

Both the mother and her father are to blame.  She should be arrested and tried for this crime, she is horrible.

Answer 13

That is an unbearable read. Poor baby. I can only think that feeding your kids is such a 'primitive' reaction, for instance when kids get the trots and you have to stop all food intake it's a very hard thing to do.

When your little one pleads for food and you have to deny it just distresses me to the core. So what fcuked up religious cult can promote the opposite of this response beggars belief. I can't and won't ever understand what people are capable of in the name of religion.

Answer 14

I think  she was probably a victim.  These cults tend to target people who are vulnerable and easily manipulated to begin with.  She was obviously brainwashed.

What I can't understand is why they are saying that the child 'refused' to say amen.    At 15 months old many children still aren't capable of talking.  I also find it hard to accept that a child that age would understand the connection between saying amen and the withholding of his food.   At 15 months of age, a child would do anything if he was hungry.  He certainly would not be capable of any kind of religious understanding.  

Answer 15

Disgusting! I hope they don't get off on grounds on mental illness or temporary insanity.

Answer 16

omfg well i was having one of the crappiest days and reading that has just topped it off i swear to god what the h**l are people thinking they should take the lot of them and shoot them point blank they are disgusting un human beings!!!

Answer 17

There is no excuse for what happened to the poor child. Blaming the cult will not make the mother any less culpable. Any mother that stood by & watched her child die in such a painful, protracted way is inhuman. She should be locked up & the key thrown away.

Answer 18

She should be starved to death. She's no victim, that baby was. How stupid can you be to listen to someone who tells you not to feed your child? Cult or no, the basic instinct to take care of your young should come first.  

Answer 19

the  mother and father are equally to blame