Religious People Are the Best People L
14 September 2007 by vastleft
At my old blog, I ran a feature called “Religious People Are the Best People.” The more recent of the previous 49 installments can be found here (link fixed).
The subject of today’s 50th installment is especially horrific:
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The mother of a young girl known as “Precious Doe” pleaded guilty Thursday to second-degree murder in the death of her 3-year-old daughter, whose decapitated remains were found in a park and left unidentified for four years.Michelle Johnson, 32, of Muskogee, Okla., also pleaded guilty to child endangerment, abandoning a corpse and tampering with evidence. She admitted that she knew her daughter, Erica, was badly injured but did nothing to help her as she lay dying after allegedly being abused by her stepfather.
I didn’t see anything conclusive about how religious Ms. Johnson is, but the clues suggest that that element is at play here, as it seems to be in all of these stories.
Here’s what I could glean from press accounts:
“Roughly on April 28th, the stepfather in this case kicked the poor young girl Erica in the head,” Sanders said. “After kicking her in the head, she essentially laid in the house for a roughly two-day period. It was after she quit moving, after I think it was fairly certain … that she was no longer with us, that they decided to take her to the church …”
And:
Reacting to Michelle Johnson’s emotional plea Thursday, community activist Alonzo Washington, said, “Knowing that Michelle Johnson was at the prayer vigils, knowing that she still married a man after he murdered this child is just a deep thing.”
And:
Some of the hair came from the mother’s brush, and she gave some of it to the tipster after he told her he would put it in a Bible under the 23rd Psalm to bring her good luck, said Alonzo Washington, a Kansas City community activist who has long championed efforts to identify the girl.
Well, at least using the Bible in a bald-faced act of lying (imagine that!) had its benefits.
A representative of both church and state has ruled that God wasn’t looking out for this poor child:
“Erica tragically experienced death in the early morning of life. But this was not God’s will … but the will of wrong,” said U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, whose district includes the neighborhood. Also a minister, he officiated at the burial.
Why would that be? Did Baby Jesus have something better to do than save a little girl from murder and decapitation? Was he busy ginning up another flood or terrorist attack to punish the abortionists and sodomites?
Meanwhile, the world’s hottest tabloid story begins thusly:
After Kate and Gerry McCann prayed for a miracle at Fatima, the holiest Roman Catholic shrine in Portugal, on May 23, they embarked on an international tour to publicize the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine. The three year old (by now she’d be four) vanished from the family’s holiday apartment in southern Portugal on May 3, while the McCanns dined with friends in a tapas restaurant just 100 yards away. The Roman Catholic community in Fatima wrote a special prayer for the occasion of Kate and Gerry’s visit: “Dear God, please change the hearts of the people who have Madeleine to give her back.” Surrounded by crowds of Portuguese who wept when the couple lit a candle, and who sent their own children to kiss Kate’s cheek, the two British doctors, both devout Roman Catholics, were treated like honorary Portuguese. Back in Praia da Luz, the tiny vacation resort where Maddie had disappeared on May 3, the family was given their own key to the village church, allowing them to seek sanctuary at any time. Locals plastered shop windows with “Find Maddie” posters.All these months later, the prayers at Fatima have been far from answered, as Madeleine’s parents have become the target of ever-growing suspicion and even hostility in Portugal. To the incredulity of many following the search for Madeleine from afar, last week the police named the McCanns as suspects in the disappearance of their own daughter.
Circumstantial evidence, sure, but at some point the Jesus fish on the trunk starts to resemble the trout in the milk.
14 September 2007, on 8:39 pm
Here in metro Cincinnati, a Glen Este assistant principal came in early for a staff meeting- in part because she was bringing the donuts. Security camera footage shows her exiting her SUV, opening the rear hatch to grab said donuts, and hustling in to the building. At the time- several weeks back now, the days were dry and consistently in the nineties flirting with one hundred. That’s important because Brenda Nesselroad-Slaby overlooked her sleeping two year old strapped in the carseat and there were no windows open. Set oven to 140-150 degrees and bake for eight hours and the poor girlchild was done. What does this have to do with religion? Well, nothing. It just pissed me off.
14 September 2007, on 9:03 pm
‘coz jesus loves the little children, dontcha know - loves ‘em to death.
They’re only worthwhile protecting while they’re still in the womb.
14 September 2007, on 9:04 pm
edit ^ “…
worthwhileworth protecting…”14 September 2007, on 9:07 pm
I can be very forgetful about some things, but forgetting that my children are asleep in my car? No way Jose!
14 September 2007, on 11:43 pm
Did Baby Jesus have something better to do than save a little girl from murder and decapitation? Was he busy ginning up another flood or terrorist attack to punish the abortionists and sodomites?
This was much my response to church freaks I encountered in my recent two-week hospital stay (which resulted in surgery) who told me “god was with me” and “trust god” and all that bullshit. I told them to watch some videos of African children dying while vultures stand by the sidelines waiting eagerly to feast on their freshly dead little bodies. I was too sick and in too much pain to hold back and told many people to fuck off with their god shit. My one aunt called and said “god is with you” and I told her then if that was true I want the sick, sadistic bastard to BACK OFF. I told her that shit happens, and people use it for a crutch to explain bad stuff, and as in the case of this story, this god of their’s apparently gives two shits about people, especially little children. I will be posting about my hospital stay soon. It’s amazing how people cling to this useless oogie-boogie god crap. I felt like I was in a lunatic asylum for two weeks! I will post soon.
15 September 2007, on 12:03 am
That’s alright Stardust, honey, we’ll pray for you just the same!
I suppose Ms. Slaby, from above, must have forgotten to mention her youngest daughter when she said her prayers the night before. Gwod, who knows when even the smallest sparrow falls, must have peed his pants laughing while the little girl grew progressively redder, her breath shorter and shorter.
“now they strap me in my seat
the whole day long in breathless heat.
if I should die while mom’s at work,
there is no gwod or he’s a jerk.”
15 September 2007, on 1:08 am
Stardust
I’m happy to see that you’re back. Those Christers don’t seem to get the messsage do they? I want the sick sadistic bastard to “BACK OFF”. Too good. LOL
RDZ
That whole episode of a child dying in the care is just sooo tragic. And she is an administartive assistant? Is that a professional position or a volunteer position? And WHO is that fucking stupid to leave their child unattended for more than a few minutes? I can’t imagine how broken her heatrt must be and well it should but I hope she spends the rest of her life incarcerated. WTF these people need to be stopped from breeding.
15 September 2007, on 1:36 am
Jimmer, she is/was an Assistant Principle of a Middle School with a Masters Degree in something or other.
15 September 2007, on 1:49 am
Stardust,
I think it’s awesome you told them to fuck off. That’s something I want to say, but never have the balls to. I’m looking forward to your post about your hospital stay.
15 September 2007, on 2:04 am
RDZ
A masters degree in “Stupid”
15 September 2007, on 7:54 am
Unless I otherwise know them to be neglectful or abusive, I don’t automatically demonize people who are tragically forgetful.
Someone who makes a willful decision to strand a young child in a hot car is beneath contempt, but to err is, like it or not, human.
When you have kids, and especially when you have kids and a job, you sometimes run on autopilot with a million detailed tasks (bring baby bag, latch car seat, etc., etc.).
It’s quite possible (maybe even probable) the person is a contemptible fuck-up who should never be left responsible for a child, but it’s also possible that she experienced an ordinary mental lapse — of the sort that makes you not pack your laptop power cord out as you head out for a big business trip — something that could have happened to any decent person. Fatally bad brain cramps can happen to good people.
15 September 2007, on 8:14 am
Stardust,
Good for you (maybe even literally so) for not letting religionists vent their crazy fixations on you in your time of need!
Maybe they should say: “I’ve been lied to about this fantasy, and I lie to myself and my kids about it. Your illness provides an excellent opportunity for me to indulge in that fantasy. Make indulging me and those like me your top priority in this time of crisis. To do otherwise would risk death and eternal damnation.”
15 September 2007, on 9:38 am
i saw the story of the child left to die in the car on MSNBC. The reason it was making news was that the prosecutor decided NOT to file charges against the mother.
He thought she had already paid the ultimate price. Maybe personally, but where is the justice for her daughter? A box of donuts was more important; a meeting was forefront in the mother’s mind, while her forgotten child baked to death in a car oven. If this woman wasn’t a *professional*, would the DA have a different attitude?
Stardust
Glad you’re back. Glad you gave ‘em what for in the hospital. Looking forward to the whole story. Take it easy recouping.
15 September 2007, on 10:42 am
Ever involved in some fashion with a child with cancer? Ever visit websites that let you connect to the family and child? Ever read the postings like “we’re praying for you” and “god is caring for you”? Ever want to scream? I have!!!
Well at least good SECULAR WORLDLY care is generally being given (must often thanks to SECULAR STATE SUPPORT).
But good thing those prayers are there to make it effective (or NOT)… not bad idea to butter up the “boss” .. I mean it is obvious is it not?!!?! .. god is a union boss for doctors … he brings business to them and says to us: “yous use-a my man and pay-a his bill and-a show-a some-a respect-a to-a da family - and-a maybe I’ll-a do-a sumting for yous - but-a non expect-a any free miracles — dat-a ain’t nice-a!”
15 September 2007, on 10:44 am
Sorry, Vastleft, when you remember the donuts and forget the kid, something’s wrong.
15 September 2007, on 10:45 am
And welcome back Stardust!!
15 September 2007, on 10:53 am
PS “da family” = “DA FAMILY” …
Capi: God (father) God (son) God (holy ghost)
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|—– Consiglieri: Peter, Paul, and Mary
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Capidecina: saints
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Soldati: Angels, Clergy
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Goodfellas: the faithful
15 September 2007, on 11:48 am
Stardust…
Welcome back from the asylum.
Another reason I stay as far away as possible from hospitals (getting stuck in one; that is). At least so far; so good. The closest to me is Lutheran General in Park Ridge, IL.
So few hospitals are free from religious “Over-lordship”; but the “Christers” overwhelmingly fill the ranks of both the professionals and the patients.
I can just imagine what some of your UNspoken comments were like.
I probably would have offered a suggestion like:
“Is there a Gideon bible in one of those yonder drawers? There is?…
OK…foist…shut the fuck up with all the Jeebus-like prayer bullshit; and second; take that delusional piece of insidious crap…Yeah; the bible…and do some good with it…
like shoving it up your big fat ass.
Third…
Never darken my doorstep again; until perhaps you read some Dawkins or Hitchens, or…
to ‘paraphrase’ a little E.A. Poe:
“Quoth the Raven?:
Go fuck yourself!…WACK!!!”
Is that a wee bit too harsh?
15 September 2007, on 12:19 pm
Revenant,
Imagine it happened to someone you like and respect. Is it so impossible to imagine?
We are all capable of getting caught up in minutia and having an oh-shit moment that snaps us back into focus.
This not to exonerate everyone this happens to, but to allow for the fact that it could happen to an otherwise decent person as a worst-case brain-fart.
15 September 2007, on 12:48 pm
Apparently, Ohio law doesn’t include a category for negligence in the homicide guidelines. Ms. Slaby had been warned before about leaving her young daughter unattended in the car, though it was for brief periods of time while she dropped her 5 year-old at school(the warnings in that case were about abduction and not suffocation). I don’t necessarily think she should go to prison for life but, perhaps, several hours locked in car parked on hot asphalt with the windows closed might make me feel better.
I have no children but I sure haven’t ever forgotten my dog in my car.
15 September 2007, on 7:32 pm
VL, I might, but until that happens…
I might have understood if the “oh shit” moment involved something a little more important that donuts. Her last name wasn’t Simpson, after all.
16 September 2007, on 11:30 am
I’m afraid I must side with VL on this one. I can’t imagine that mother was anything other than a loving, caring parent who had a million things to do and not enough time to do them in, like millions of other parents. Perhaps she simply forgot to drop the child off at daycare. Tragic, yes, but it happens. It happens more often than any of us would like to admit.
Further proof that god is not watching out for us. My heart goes out to that woman.
For what it’s worth, I also agree with the DA’s decision not to prosecute. What happened is quite clearly a tragic accident. Why should that woman be made to suffer in prison for something that will haunt her for the rest of her life? Where is the “justice” in that. Her baby is dead. No amount of justice will bring that child back, and no amount of prison time will save another baby from such a fate.
To prosecute would simply be misplaced and wilful persecution; vengeance, not justice.
16 September 2007, on 12:03 pm
By failing to prosecute, now anyone who doesn’t want their kid any more can say they just forgot. Does Susan Smith or Andrea Yates mean anything?
16 September 2007, on 11:16 pm
Did Susan Smith forget to take her kids out of the car when she drove it into the water?
Did Andrea Yeats forget to stop shoving her five children’s heads in the bathtub?
Some people are pretty forgetful, I guess.
17 September 2007, on 12:56 am
Revenant,
I understand you’re suggesting that Smith and Yates could have staged “accidents” and might have gotten off that way. Always hard to tell when someone is caretaker of someone very young or very infirm. But it doesn’t mean everyone who has an apparent accident should be convicted of manslaughter or murder.
17 September 2007, on 1:18 am
No they shouldn’t, but it also doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be punished at all. Sure, the loss of the child is a trememdous punishment if it was indeed an accident, but they still punish people for accidental deaths, whether it was their own child or not.
17 September 2007, on 5:42 pm
Revenant, just because the courts punish people for accidental deaths does not make it right. If the death was truly accidental, what good does punishment do?
In my mind, it is better to let off a few guilty people because their crime was mistakenly ruled an accident, and forgive the vast majority whose mistakes were justly ruled. After all, crimes of that nature are actually fairly difficult to cover up as accidents. Evidence is left behind, etc.
Sending someone to jail or prison for something that they had no real control over, and would avoid could they do it again, serves no purpose but to assuage the vengeful feelings of the persons impacted by the tragedy. Catharsis is not justice, no matter how much it may feel that way.
If one wants to avoid such accidents in the future, one’s time is better spent finding actual solutions to the problem rather than locking away the reminders. Accidents can and should be avoided, but they happen, and like it or not, they can happen to you. You can say that you would never, ever be so forgetful as to leave a defenceless child locked in a car, but you would be lying to yourself. Even if you are perfect enough to rule out such a situation entirely, not everyone is.
Simply locking away those unfortunate enough to make such mistakes does not make said mistakes one iota less likely to happen to someone else. All it does is further torment those who are already deeply sorry for their actions.
24 September 2007, on 10:15 am
[...] Three more stories that prove what you already know: that Religious People Are the Best People. [...]
24 September 2007, on 10:44 am
So Bruce, you’re saying that if someone accidentally killed your kids you wouldn’t want them punished?