Pastor Says Mental Illness Is 'Demons'

[DoYouEverWonder]

February 15, 2006, 9:37 PM EST

McKINNEY, Texas -- The church pastor of a woman accused of cutting off the arms of her 10-month-old daughter told jurors Wednesday that mental illness is actually demon possession and cannot be cured with medication.

Dena Schlosser, 37, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the November 2004 death of her baby, Margaret. She was not taking her anti-psychotic medication at the time of the slaying.

"I do not believe that any mental illness exists other than demons, and no medication can straighten it out, other than the power of God," said Doyle Davidson, the 73-year-old minister of the Water of Life Church, which the Schlosser family attended several times a week.

Dena Schlosser's attorneys have faulted her husband and the church's beliefs for discouraging medical treatment. Schlosser's husband, John Schlosser, testified Tuesday that he did not seek medical help when his wife told him she wanted to "give the baby to God" the day before their daughter's death.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-severed-arms,0,1978102.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines


I think this pastor has his own demons to deal with.

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. We should put this guy in the same room with Tom Cruise and lock

the door.

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. What do you think they do

down at the Church of Scientology? They call it going clear and charge 1000's of dollar for the privalege.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

ACLU would object

Violation of the 8th Amendment, "cruel and unusual punishments."

[MissMillie]

74. for which one?

Cruise or the minister?

:shrug:

[Ferret Annica]

32. This guy's a crackpot...

...but nobody deserves to be forced to share a room with an evil SOB like Tom Cruise. Have a heart for pity sake.
;-)

[zonmoy]

78. throw in bush jr and it could make another axis of evil.

[tenshi816]

37. I've had the idea for a while

that some of the crazier Christian fundamentalists and radical Muslim clerics, along with Bill Frist and other RW politicians, as well as a couple of celebrity Scientologists, should all be locked together in a Big Brother house for a few months. I'd pay good money to see all those God warriors living together cheek by jowl.

[The Backlash Cometh]

42. That is one reality show I'd LOVE to see. What a great idea.

I'm hard pressed to decide whether we should include weapons to see who kills who off first? Maybe we should keep conventional weapons out of it to see who shows the greatest creativity? My bet is Frist will use his medical background to poison them all off, unless the muslims pull the rope off the blinds to garrot everyone first. The celebrities would probably try to whore there way out of it, and the Christian fundamentalist? They'd probably go for high ground and preach all day and night until the others commit suicide to put an end to it all.

[Bo]

50. Great Idea

[tenshi816]

60. I've never seen Big Brother in the States,

but in the UK version the only books the inmates - uh, contestants - are allowed to take in are the Bible and the Koran. In our proposed version of BB, they'd all probably end up swatting each other about the head with their holy books in a game of "My God can beat up Your God", and the Christian fundies would be trying to outdo each other with how big and fancy their Bibles are ("Yours has illustrations? Huh, that's nothing, mine has photographs and an autographed picture of Jesus.")

Tom Cruise would be trying to convince everybody they're covered in invisible aliens, the fundies would be damning all the non-Christians to hell (exceptin' themselves, of course), the politicians would be trying to raise money in the house and get themselves elected the winner, and the Muslim extremists would declare jihad on everybody and start trying to figure out how to make bombs out of used toilet paper rolls, dental floss and toothpaste.

Would anyone become the slightest bit enlightened? I doubt it, but it would make for great viewing.

[reprobate]

75. Just one weapon. A self destruct button for the entire house.

Then we sit back and wait to see who the craziest will be. My money is on the "Last Days" fundies on our own shores. Their way makes sure nobody else wins.

[lonestarnot]

71. WTF! Is wrong with these people?!!!!!

[NickB79]

76. Wouldn't work

All the nutjob religious fanatics would argue a lot at first, but then realize that they have so much in common they have no reason to argue, simply because they are all so nuts.

Then they break free and start the Unstoppable Theocratic Nutjob Movement and take over the entire world.....

[shayes51]

46. amen

[atommom]

2. What a horrific story. It's like something out of the Dark Ages.

These people have always been with us, but they seem to be getting more vocal lately.. :scared:

[stepnw1f]

4. That's because he's mentally ill too...

exorcise him immediately!!!!!

[occuserpens]

5. So, what is exactly the difference between TX and Pakistan?

[rooboy]

11. In Pakistan you can watch cricket and get a really good curry. n/t

[Erika]

6. We either glorify or demonize what we can't understand

This pastor is definitiely doing that. The brain is an organ that gets "sick" or affected just like any other organ in the body.

Fundamentalists cannot comprehend that what they perceive as evil is only a sick brain.

[punpirate]

7. This should be an object lesson...

... for the fundies in just how slow the progress of evolution actually is. We're no smarter, nor more sophisticated in our judgments than we were a thousand years ago. Your average shaman is smarter than this pastor.

Although I can just imagine the ruckus it would kick up, somehow, I'd like to see this pastor enjoined in the matter.

[superconnected]

8. I knew it! Bush does have DEMONS!

But I doubt all mentally ill have. At least the ones that aren't criminally insane likely don't.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

9. That's just too sad for words n/t

[CoffeeCat]

10. If this guy listened to himself, he would be ashamed...

...at his stupidity.

Many people are "cured" of mental illness by taking the right drugs.

That's a scientific fact. How does he explain those who are helped by medication? Do they demons leave when the Thorazine arrives?

This guy is obviously ignorant and suffering from some kind of narcissistic disorder which causes him to be delusional and irresponsible. Obviously, he is mentally ill.

Quick! We need and old priest and a young priest! Send in the goats and a bucket of chicken blood--this man needs some help! Oh, and one garlic necklace and a gun loaded with a silver bullet!

(Sorry about my third-rate attempt at humor. If I don't laugh, I will implode).

[loudsue]

12. This makes me FURIOUS, for so many reasons!!!!!

First of all, this is the reason that so many of the talibornagains BELIEVE in their diety: because they suffer such mental torment, and feel so completely out of control of their own lives, that the "church" is all they have to hang on to.

Now I'm not saying that sober people of faith don't take a lot of comfort in their religion. I'm saying that talibornagain fundies have to CLING CLING CLING DESPERATELY to something -- and the more sinister the better -- because it resonates with their inner "demons" so well. The fundies, by and large, ARE a mental illness.

But, by saying that it's "demons", and not a chemical imbalance, or a treatable psychological condition, the church only serves to INCREASE their power over their "flock", with their desperate dollars, and taking money away from a national mental health program is a way to FORCE the rest of the country to become so phucked up that they just have to decide to go along with the fundies....which increases their number, which perpetuates the mental illness. Hence....lots of republicans, who cut funding for social programs, prisoner rehabilitation programs, etc.

Gawd!! What a frikkin' circle jerk.

These people are MENTALLY LAZY. They want the easiest answer for everything, and STOP as soon as they see a potential outcome that sits well with them. They don't see ANYTHING beyond that little "feel good" moment.
:kick::kick::kick::kick:

[bling bling]

24. Interesting analysis.

I think you're right on with everything you said. I've become increasingly convinced that fundies really are suffering from some sort of mental illness and they use politics and religion as a way to project their unhappiness and anger on others and make themselves feel better. There is no rational explaination for the level of anger and hatred they typically have towards their imagined enemies or rational explaination for their perceived notion of being persecuted as Christians in this country.

Furthermore, the institution of Christianity in general has proven track record dating back to its inception of using religion as a tool to manipulate and control people to the advantage of the church. In fact, fundie "Christians" used religion as a tool to manipulate their followers and influence the outcome of the last political election.

And your point about how the fundies increase their numbers is spot-on. I'm sorry if offends anyone, but by and large the followers of the fundies are truly some of the most simple-minded, unquestioning, and uneducated people you could ever meet.

[raccoon]

55. Both you and loudsue came up with some good insights about

the fundies.

As you've said, many--if not most--of them are very angry.

I think they believe it is "OK" for them to be mean, angry, hateful, and abusive to homosexuals, patients and workers at abortion clinics, because the way they see it, what "these people" are doing is against what God wants people to do--so that exonerates them from any responsibility for acting like assholes toward these and other groups.

[htuttle]

13. Well, drill a hole in her head and let it out!

If we're going to get all Neolithic, we might as well go all the way...

[mikeytherat]

51. Oh, for fuck's sake, it's just an imbalance of bodily humours

A little (OK a lot) of bloodletting should do the trick!

Drilling a hole in thine head? Hath you no understanding of medical magick?

mikey_the_rat

[htuttle]

53. Bloodletting is contraindicated in cases of possession by Unclean Spirits!

Look it up! It's on page 209 of the Malleus Malefactorum.

I think an exploratory river dunking is in order to get to the bottom of it.

[Mythsaje]

14. How 17th Century of him...

Nice to know such ancient traditions are still alive and well.

:sarcasm:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

15. This is so typical in these fundy crapola churches

My grandfather was suckered into this movement in his later years (when he was starting to mentally lose it). When my mom checked into a mental hospital to deal with a severe depression, he said, "If she'd put her faith in Jesus Christ she wouldn't have these problems". :grr:

[Lindacooks]

16. Yes, and the night air causes malaria, and leeches

cure leukemia.

Welcome to the 14th century!!

[Up2Late]

17. Well, how 16th Century of him. Someone should tell this idiot that...

...If he's hearing the voice of God, he needs some Medication! :banghead: :mad:

[Orrin_73]

18. My god, these people still exist

unbelievable. Whats next are they gonna burn them at the stakes.

[fshrink]

19. This shrink says pastor is mentally ill.

[nemo137]

25. this student agrees with the shrink.

[LostinVA]

49. This library person agrees with the shrink

[silvermachine]

58. So does this library person...

:toast:

[LostinVA]

59. That's 'cause we're so smart.... and subversive

[kineneb]

30. this patient agrees, pastor is totally nutters. n/t

[Critters2]

63. This pastor agrees with the shrink

THIS pastor says THAT pastor is crazy as a bedbug...to get technical.

[tanyev]

68. Definitely a Republican, at any rate.

DAVIDSON, DOYLE E
MC KINNEY,TX 75070
WATER OF LIFE CHURCH
11/14/2003
$1,000
National Republican Senatorial Cmte

DAVIDSON, DOYLE E MR
MC KINNEY,TX 75070
WATER OF LIFE CHURCH/MINISTER OF TH
2/17/2004
$500
Republican National Cmte

DAVIDSON, DOYLE MR
MCKINNEY,TX 75070
WARER OF LIFE CHURCH/SELF - EMPLOYE
11/17/2003
$250
National Republican Congressional Cmte

DAVIDSON, DOYLEE MR
MC KINNEY,TX 75070
WATER OF LIFE CHURCH/MINISTER OF TH
3/6/2003
$500
Republican National Cmte

http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.asp?NumOfThou=0&txtName=davidson&txtState=TX&txtZip=&txtEmploy=&txtCand=&txt2004=Y&Order=N

[Vogon_Glory]

89. And In Return, The Republican Party Will Help This Fellow...

And in return for his campaign contributions, the Republican Party will help this fellow spread his voodoo medicine notions concerning mental illness far and wide.:argh: :grr:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

20. I despise people like him that prey on the mentally ill

Often the people who follow these cultist religious leaders are mentally ill. While I know that most of them aren't as ill as Mrs Schlosser, they are still often victims of mental illness. We like to dismiss them offhandedly as being stupid and ignorant, but it goes deeper than that in many cases.

These parasites such as this "pastor" attach themselves on such people because they are easy to manipulate into believing their lies. Often their followers are desperate and seeking someone or something that can help make sense of the world for them.

When serious harm comes from this, such as Mr. Davidson influence in the case of the murder of little baby Margaret, I feel he should be prosecuted for his part in the murder.

[mitchum]

21. mitchum says religiosity is a mental illness

Well, I think Freud said it first, but you'll get no argument from me

[GOPNotForMe]

22. How does this man's beliefs in his mythology have any relevance? nt

[mitchum]

23. I certainly hope her family can file a suit against this lunatic grifter..

let him put his money where his babbling mouth is

[Bridget Burke]

57. Her husband surely won't file a suit.....

His wife's treatment stopped because of an "insurance error" but he did nothing about it. From the article; (perhaps they've edited it since the original snip)

McKINNEY, Texas -- A woman accused of cutting off the arms of her 10-month-old daughter stopped psychiatric treatment months before the baby's death because of an error with her state-sponsored insurance, a social worker said.

Dena Schlosser, 37, was experiencing financial problems and relying on Northstar, a state-funded low-income insurance program, to pay for her visits to a psychiatrist and for her medications, said Jamie Burrus, the family's Child Protective Services caseworker.

"When Mrs. Schlosser arrived for the appointment, she was advised that she had been dropped from the Northstar program and was going to have to pay for her appointment," Burrus testified Wednesday.

www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-severed-arms,0,1978102.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines

The husband certainly should have fought to get his wife back on treatment; but the morning news in Houston said he was strongly influenced by his preacher. And the preacher's statement is indefensible. Check him out:

www.doyledavidson.com/news/index.htm

[IndianaGreen]

26. What do you expect from a religion that rejects science?

Speaking in tongues is most definitely evidemce of a serious mental disorder!

[Zhade]

27. Are there actually educated adults who believe in that horseshit?

Unbelieveable.

[Selteri]

28. Freedom of religion is fine and all, but some people should really

stop trying to push their opinions out there as being so valid. Really, religious belief is fine but these people are demonstrating thier own mental illnesses with opinions like that.

[daleo]

29. And I say "demons" is mental illness. n/t

[thebigidea]

31. Yeah, my mom was like this when I was a teenager. Ranting and raving.

Used to rip up my books 'cause she thought they were giving me "bad ideas." When ever there was an argument, she'd ignore me and chant skywards with arms extended, mascara running down her face, demanding the blood of christ to wash the demons from me.

The fact that I was manic was just the demons inside me, so I never got any kind of treatment other than being screamed at in "tongues." HADABASANTA BASOYA BATANDIEM!

Yeah, real impressive.

Caught her running around annointing everything in my room with oil.

It started off small, just once a week to church. Then its 2-3 times a week. Then activities every day. Then she was just lost to us.

She somewhat snapped out of it a few years later and we have an understanding not to talk religion, but man, what a frightening way to grow up.

[tenshi816]

40. I have an aunt like that.

When I was 12 and attending the wake of my mother's oldest brother, who was killed in a gory car crash, this aunt took me aside to "tell me something". The "something" was that unless I accepted Jesus Christ as my saviour right then and there, I was going to die the same way my uncle did and burn in the everlasting fires of hell.

My aunt had a daughter a year younger than I am. This cousin and I were close and she used to confide in me how frightened she was of her mother. My cousin always had to wear dresses and was not allowed to cut her hair (although, oddly, because both she and her mother were natural redheads but my crazy aunt bleached her hair to hide it, my cousin was forced by her mother to start bleaching her hair blonde when she was 11 because my aunt thought it would fool people into thinking they were natural blondes - see, I told you she was crazy!). My cousin also couldn't watch television or listen to the radio, and had to endure lengthy prayer sessions and bible readings over the course of every day, starting before breakfast - I know, I experienced it at their house too. Dinner would congeal on the plates because my aunt could take a half hour to say grace. Laughter was in small supply in the household, because humor distracted from the serious business of praying, and besides there wasn't much to laugh about. Any time my cousin and her brother mentioned anything secular, they were told they were going to hell.

The entire family practically lived at church, attending services nearly every day.

Needless to say, my cousin left home as soon as she could, right after high school graduation. My aunt is still alive and now, in her 70s, is a preacher at a small fundamentalist church near Athens, Georgia. I shudder to think what goes on there.

[Crunchy Frog]

33. While we're getting rid of scientifically based biology, ie evolution,

we may as well also get rid of scientifically based medicine and evidence based court systems.

Let's just throw in the towel and let the court rule that this terrible tragedy was the result of demons, rather than the evil librul contention that it was either the result of a biologically based illness or of criminal intent.

[Name removed]

34. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[f-bush]

35. typical moronic asshole fundamentalist bigot!

[Horse with no Name]

36. He does have a point

After all, in the hospital when a patient goes nuts, we started getting the Bibles out instead of the Thorazine.
Works much better, although not as fast. They usually only injure and kill a few people in the meantime...:sarcasm:

[NorthernSpy]

38. did Rev. advise Schlosser to go off her pills before she killed...

... her daughter? Apparently, this church of his doesn't cotton to them unholy medical treatments.

If this pastor persuaded Dena Schlosser that God did not want her to take her meds, then surely he's partly liable for what happened next.

:think:

[Hekate]

39. And if one of his parishoners became a pharmacist, would it be okay...

... for him/her to refuse to sell antipsychotics?

If you've read the thread about refusal to sell prescribed contraceptives, I'm sure you see where I'm going with this.

God, please protect us from your followers.

Hekate

edited to include link:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=437485&mesg_id=437485
"Need some help understanding compelling selling a pill"

[MountainLaurel]

79. Thank you for reminding us of that

Because a lot of people more mainstream than this guy -- the ones who worship at the pretty 150-year-old stone church down the road -- might also believe that mental illness doesn't really exist and is just a symptom of secular society's selfish nature or a matter of a lack of prayer. It's not just medical abortions or the Pill that these folks have their eyes on exterminating from society.

[AndyTiedye]

41. Some "Pastors" Attempt to Exorcise Those "Demons" With Fatal Results

Aug. 26, 2003 A church minister was charged Tuesday with physical abuse of a child in the death of an 8-year-old autistic boy who died as church leaders tried to heal him at a storefront church in Milwaukee.

Medical Examiner: Boy's death ruled homicide (8/25/03)
'Nothing wrong': Pastor says service was in accordance with Bible (8/24/03)
Minister arrested: Leaders were trying to heal boy, pastor says (8/23/03)
…
Terrance Cottrell Jr. suffocated after a church elder at the Faith Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith on Milwaukee's north side sat on his chest, police said. The Milwaukee County medical examiner's office ruled the death a homicide Monday. The cause was "mechanical asphyxia due to external chest compression."
…
A high-ranking Milwaukee police source said Monday that Ray Hemphill told investigators that he would sit on the boy's chest for up to two hours at a time during prayer services at the small storefront church at 8709 W. Fond du Lac Ave. The nightly prayer services started three weeks ago, police say Hemphill told them.
…
Three women - including Terrance's mother, Patricia Cooper - sat on the boy's arms and legs while Hemphill tried to remove the "evil spirits" from him, said Hemphill's brother, David Hemphill, the pastor of the church where the service took place.




http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/aug03/164934.asp

[area51]

43. crazy preacher.

"`I do not believe that any mental illness exists other than demons, and no medication can straighten it out, other than the power of God,' said Doyle Davidson, the 73-year-old minister of the Water of Life Church, which the Schlosser family attended several times a week."

Now that's a comment by a mentally ill person.

[Fuzz]

44. Let the blood-letting begin!

[greekspeak]

45. Greekspeak says "Pastor is demon"

Take Doyle Davidson home now, Lord, its time. Well, maybe I am being a little too hopeful. Lord, Doyle Davidson is a total freak. Use nature to do something really flashy in putting him out of his misery.

[doubleplusgood]

47. so, let's exorcise demons from murderers

intead of incarcerating or executing them, because, of course, THEY didn't commit the crimes, it was the DEMONS. Get rid of the demons & the criminals are CURED !!! Remember, through Jesus (and ONLY Jesus), ALL things are possible.

Funny, how we don't hear this line of reasoning from the fundies,

[LostinVA]

48. "Several times" a week?

Even my very religious grandma only goes once a week. And, didn't Jesus say to pray in a closet, not in front of people, being all showy?

Methinks this guy's ministering and counseling probably didn't help this woman too much...

[proud2BlibKansan]

52. And another husband/father who needs to be charged

with a crime for allowing an insane woman to take care of his child.

[LostinVA]

69. Yup... Rusty Yates redux

Except Yates is a very educated man, no excuse. (Actually, I don't know that this father isn't educated, so I probably shouldn't say that.)

[Jim__]

54. What year is this? - n/t

[undergroundpanther]

56. Abuse and torture

Can cause dissociative trance states and shatter the identity.
And "protective" personality fragments can appear like demons.

This jackass is blaming Dissociation symptoms in reaction to trauma on demons. Hypnotism and group pressures and guilt can supress symptoms but it does not cure what caused the problem,abuse. Therapy and real compassion,listening, and a victim being able to trust someone else enough to tell what happened to them helps torture victims, child abuse vitims heal. It's very easy in a culture as two faced,authoritarian,violent and over sexualized as ours is to find people with split off personas when 1 in 4 girls are raped before age 18.

This jackass needs to get out of the therapy business and be seen for the ignorant manipulating bully he is. Exorcism hurts and it can kill.

[BiggJawn]

61. RELIGION is a Mental Illness.

Guess they all didn't pray hard enough or something.

I saw this shit all the time when I was working for the holy-rollers. Told a co-worker who had a "troubling" mammogram "You want me to lay on the hands and pray them spots out of there?"
"Oh, COULD you?"
"Uh, no, I'll just pray extra-hard about your boobies.." (this was back when I still half-way "believed")

Luckily for all concerned the shadows were benign...

[NoodleyAppendage]

82. Not mental illness...just an inability to cope with the finality of death.

Religious beliefs are created to act as a coping mechanism for the unexplained or personally frightening. Essentially, concepts of heaven and hell are there to allow the weak minded to cope with the finality of death and to serve as a form of ultimate justice for the inequities of life.

Religous types are not mentally ill. They're just afraid.

JB

[BiggJawn]

85. OK, then. Consider this.

Ever seen somebody "In the Spirit"? "Talking in Tongues"? Looks a lot like a psychotic episode to me.

Ever seen somebody who "got delivered from that Demon Alcohol"? Every third word out of their mouth is "Praise GAWD!" and every tenth word is "Bless His WUNNERFUL NAME!" and it's obvious to even a NON-professional person that he's merely subsituted one addiction for another. Now the Church gets all his money instead of Augie Busch, and he "beats the demons" out of his wife instead of knocking her around in a drunken rage.

I've been in the belly of the beast. There's a lot of sick people being taken for a ride by these slick con-men called "Preachers"

[NoodleyAppendage]

86. Being highly suggestible is not mental illness.

Those "trance" like states are not specific to Xtian religions, as they show up in just about every organized religious belief. They are simply evidence of a high degree of suggestibility, which isn't surprising that one needs to suspend a certain level of disbelief to even follow religious tenents. Suggestibility can make otherwise normal individuals do crazy-looking things (e.g., speaking in tounges, dancing with snakes, piercing flesh rituals in India, etc.).

The greatest cure for religious fundamentalism is curiosity and healthy skeptism combined with educational obtainment.

JB

[BiggJawn]

96. Then there IS no such thing as mental illness.

I'm not deppressed, I have a sad Demon whispering in my ear.

Andrea Yates isn't crazy, the "Devil" was "Suggesting" that she kill her kids.

We're going to have to agree to disagree. Or at most agree that some forms of mental illness can be temporary.

BTW, the ONLY reason I was relating my personal observations to the Xian cult is because that's the one I have experience with. I have no reason to doubt (especially given the mob-mentality about "cartoons") that any other religion in the world is any different.

I hear a Voice. I must be insane, except that I claim that voice is "God".

Then in that case I'm a Prophet.

[NoodleyAppendage]

101. There's not much evidence for religion/mental illness causality.

I think I can meet you halfway and state that fundamental religious beliefs are common in some psychiatric and neurological disorders and sometimes it is those very religious beliefs that run counter to what is needed to actually help or cure the patient. Andrea Yates was probably predestined to psychotic depression, but when that psychosis combined with religious fundamentalism it was fuel upon an already dangerous fire.

Hearing voices ("god") may be a symptom of auditory hallucination, but I really wonder if the majority of the religious types who make this claim are actually hearing a voice separate from their own internal conscience. In any event, the claims of one hearing "god" is almost impossible to substantiate...just like any other internal phenomena noted as being religious experience. To believe that these fundamental religious types actually hear "god" is a matter of faith, not science.

JB

[Gussie]

62. Cost Containment

Careful, everyone. If the health insurance companies hear about this they will start reimbursing for exorcism but not drugs or therapy. After all, your basic exorcism has gotta be far cheaper than actual medical care.

:crazy: :crazy:

[Mithras61]

64. Shades of Andrea Pia Yates...

who also was off her antipsychotics on the advice of her religious leader. When are they going to start charging these nut-case religious whackos for giving out medical advice without a license or something? In my mind, they're just as guilty of the killing as the people who do it while off their meds (possibly even more so, since they SHOULD know better).

[tanyev]

65. OK, Pastor Doyle, if you really believe that is true, then why

didn't you DO something about it? Cast them demons out! Whatsa' matter? Your faith not strong enough, Pastor? Or couldn't you do it because God wanted to punish her for something? Paging Pat Robertson...

Rat bastards.

[Lorien]

66. Weclome to 1006 A.D.

This is what happens when people reject science in favor of faith alone.

[sakabatou]

67. Uh, helloooo...

Mentally ill person whose on medications and is doing fine right here!

[LostinVA]

70. Silly lad... do you really believe that?

Don't you know there are demons in you? Those meds are only tools of the Devil.

:sarcasm:

[sakabatou]

77. Then hail Ba'al

[LostinVA]

88. That may work!

[KamaAina]

72. An 8-year-old boy with autism died after an "exorcism"

at a batshit loony fundie storefront church in Milwaukee. Apparently one of the church elders sat on the boy's chest in an attempt to get rid of those pesky demons. :grr:

Good thing I wasn't raised in that sect...

[Bill McBlueState]

73. remember this

The next time someone says, "It's not right to criticize others' religious beliefs," remember this story. Beliefs for which there is no evidence can be pretty dangerous.

[FiveGoodMen]

80. Ramen!

Could not agree more!

[NoodleyAppendage]

81. Charge this MEDIEVAL backwards-assed Christofascist w/ Accessory Felony

It's high time to call these DUMBASS CHRISTOFASCISTS out and throw their asses in jail when they influence the mental health medication choices of their followers.

If this dumbass influenced the mother to stop her medications, then he's an accessory to her actions. PERIOD.

JB

[Triana]

83. ...and I say this Pastor is Mentally Ill (n/t)

[karlrschneider]

84. That crazy old bastard is on the local Faux station every morning.

He's a real fruitcake.

[Disturbed]

87. The BTK guy said he had demons.

I guess his demons are in prison where they belong. If they vanished should he be let out? Yeah, the whole thing is silly.

This preacher and others that advised people to get off of their meds , who afterwards commit murder,should be charged with accessary and serve prison time. Of course then they would be spreading their poison there.

[sendero]

90. And I believe..

... that religious belief is vestigial schizophrenia. I guess we're even.

[FiveGoodMen]

91. I'm inclined to think that as well.

You didn't happen to read that in 'The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind' did you?

[sendero]

93. Yes, I did n/t

[FiveGoodMen]

94. First person I've met who had (already) read it!

I thought that was an interesting read. It also struck me as rather hopeful: If the CONSCIOUS human race is only about 3000 years old, then maybe we're still in our infancy and won't always be this stupid.

Harder and harder to hold onto that notion with each day's news, though.

[PassingFair]

98. Julian Jaynes IS god! ........n/t

[DoYouEverWonder]

95. Sexual repression

brings out the worst in people.

[Geo55]

92. Guy lived 73 yrs. huh ? , ....lucky I guess n/t

[depakid]

97. More Texas fundies killing children.

Seems to me that the so called "pastor" ought to be in prison.

[Auntie Bush]

99. The same people who believe in creationism. Bush needs to

put aside some money to give these people a crash course in science.

[Strawman]

100. Did he conclude his testimony by saying...

"50 bucks please" ala L. Ron Hoover from Joe's Garage?

[HuckleB]

102. Should this guy be tried as an accomplice in this death?

It sure seems so. What a sick SOB.

[arwalden]

103. Another Idiot.