You state things quite well, I think. First and foremost, the tragedy of a life snuffed out, so young, by its own mother. Second, that a mother should have the instinct to not kill her own child. Third, to a mother bent on doing such a thing, ‘justification’ and even inspiration could have been found in any book.

Not only did the mother say that the little boy had the devil in him…but also said that the devil (along with ‘God’) told her how to drive the devil out of the boy. The logic fails, somehow…but then when a mother decides to kill her child, I think the failure of logic would just be the proverbial tip of the iceberg of problems.

This mom had drug paraphernalia around her home. She was charged with child abuse involving her other children. If the collected books had anything in them that instructed to harm a child, shouldn’t it be brought to light? But even if they did, shouldn’t any mom know not to hurt her baby? All things considered, at least all things the media has shared, sounds like this woman could have found justification in a phone book or an atlas.

*sigh* That sweet baby… so much of life yet to discover.

LOL! Well, there is that! I try to avoid it myself these days out of respect for my blood pressure.

Hrafnkell, Porphyry obviously never tried arguing with Heathens ;-)

But I was taught in philosophy that to see if an argument makes sense, take it to its most extreme, and that would argue that all bibles be burnt and its author sued, and since he’s not available, let’s get the people who distribute that book, which by the way is full of murder, bloodshed, sex and human sacrifice. Not good reading for children by my reckoning, or even the reckoning of all these conservative Christian associations, if you look at it from a content standpoint alone.

But then, as Porphyry once said, “it’s easier to draw on water than it is to argue with a Christian.”

Hrafnkell, I think you make a really good point with this statement: “People who are crazy enough to commit this sort of crime are going to commit this sort of crime anyway.” I think it’s a horrible thing, what happened to this child and, if a book can be proven to have caused the murder, I’d be open to the idea of having the book and the author(s) investigated. However, I’m having a hard time believing the idea that a book can cause a murder…killing is a choice that books can’t make.

Kay, the more I think about this, the more I’m convinced that this is what’s going on. I don’t think the DA would try to diffuse his own case by going after Pagan authors…something like that would essentially let the mother off the hook, so it makes sense that he’s instead trying to look at the premeditation angle, and put together as clear a picture of the murder as he can for a jury. The question will be how the media sees this, and chooses to report it.

Cosette, thank you for your insights concerning the Frosts…when I haven’t read anything from the authors, it’s reviews from people who actually have read their books that I must rely on :-) As a point of interest in this case, a Scientology book was also seized; but it’s unclear for what purpose. The Christian Bible does not seem to have been seized – despite the mother claiming to have been guided by both ‘God’ and the ‘devil’ in how to drive the ‘devil’ out of her son – nor do I expect that it would be seized, or Christianity linked to the murder.

I think part of the reason why it’s so hard to associate Christianity with things like this is because the majority of people in the US are Christian…they naturally have some understanding of their own religion, just as we understand our own religions, and so it’s harder for them to connect their own religion to murder. When a religion that they do not have this level of understanding toward might be involved, it’s easier for the ‘mainstream’ to think that the religion is associated with the crime.