On this, the National Day of Prayer, I give you stories. Like this one:
Even as her 11-year-old daughter lay dying on a mattress on the floor of the family dining room on Easter Sunday, Leilani Neumann never wavered in her belief in the power of prayer.
I was going to quote more of it, but the story makes me despair for the future of humanity. These parents, because of their religious beliefs, took no action whatsoever as their little girl died a slow, and by all accounts, painful death. A death that was entirely preventable.
And, no, prayer isn’t action, as P. Z. Myers points out (and from whom I got this story).
The Neumanns are going to be charged with second-degree reckless manslaughter, though I’m certain the courts will dance around the topic of the central role religion played in this senseless death.
I was going to go digging for more stories like this one but just this one has sapped my energy thinking of Leilani Neumann struggling to get up while her body shut down.
Enjoy your prayers today theists.