PeaceBang
The manic mind of the minister -- Auntie Mame Meets Cotton Mather. Blogging about Unitarian Universalism, UU Christian spiritual practice, occasional cultural and political ravings, and the inner life of ministry. PeaceBang is the alter ego of a small town pastor serving an historic New England Unitarian Universalist congregation.
Maybe The Devil Made Him Do It, But What’s Your Excuse, Lady?
May 24, 2007 on 5:15 pm | In Random Rant, Theological Reflection |Perhaps by now you’ve heard the story of the father who burned his 2-month old daughter in the hotel microwave? He claims that it was stress, but his supportive, loving wife says that it was Satan’s doing– that Satan was threatened by his efforts to become a minister or some such thing. She says that daddy LOVES his baby and would never hurt her. Well madam, don’t you get the Mother Of The Year Award?
“He’s the worst scum of the earth,” says the guy on this video, and there’s a refreshing clarity in that assessment, I’d say.
But of course, that would upset some UUs, who have this notion that “the inherent worth and dignity of every person” means that no matter what we do with our God-given freedom, we can never forfeit our essential and innate dignity.
Um, I’d say that microwaving your kid manages to do that pretty well, though. Of course this guy might be delusional and mentally ill, but what excuse can you make for the wife?
That was a rhetorical question, by the way. I’m really hoping no one writes in to talk about Dingbat Permissive Wife Syndrome or Pathologically Supportive Spouse Disease or anything like that. Because I’m sticking to my opinion that these two shouldn’t be trusted to take care of a schnauzer, let alone a child.
Poor, poor baby.
[I’m on my way to Nashville right now. This post was authored on 5/20/07 - PB]
7 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
Powered by WordPress with Pool theme design by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.
Valid XHTML and CSS. ^Top^
“the inherent worth and dignity of every person” seems to me to come right from the mouth of Jesus
(condensed from Matthew 25: 31-46) (I use JW Hanson’s translation) “For I was hungry and, and you gave me to eat; i was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you entertained me; naked, and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me” “…. inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me.”
Jesus didnt say that they can only be in jail for cool right-on crimes, or being naked because they were crime victims, etc. As we treat the least of these, so you treat me. It’s easy to treat those deserving of respect with kindness - it’s harder, very much harder to treat with kindness, those who microwave their children and defend it. And if anybody fits the definition of “least of these” that might be them.
(enjoy Nashville and wave at the United Methodists for us!)
Comment by StevenR — May 24, 2007 #
The non-offending parent is very often a victim as well, and tends to be in a great deal of denial and/or very dependent on the abuser.
I don’t say that as an excuse, just to say that it’s pretty common behavior. Don’t forget the common scenario when there was an outcry of child sexual abuse by the child to the mother, and the mother slapped the kid and said “don’t you dare say that about father so and so”. Truth is he was probably picked as an easy victim because mom had too much on her plate for one reason or another and Father so and so was a big help, picking him up from practice or whatever.
Same thing goes for parents. If dad or stepdad is abusing the kids , mom is likely out on the street or will face abuse herself. Or she grew up more seriously abused and whatever is happening now isn’t all that bad to her. Of course it could be either parent doing the abuse.
From the perspective of the survivor, having a supportive non offending parent is a high indicator of sucessful recovery, and having the inital outcry met with anger or denial is indicative of a low success rate in recovery, particularly if the person who the child turned to was a non offending parent.
At least this poor child died relatively quickly (I”m assuming she died as a result of this) and won’t have to continue to live with these people or deal with the foster care system. May she rest in peace.
Comment by Madgebaby — May 24, 2007 #
Well, I just looked the story up and see that this poor child lived through her ordeal. She should be taken far, far away from her current situation, for sure! My goodness how awful.
Comment by Madgebaby — May 24, 2007 #
After Auschwitz, the Gulag, Cambodia, and Rwanda, we should not need any further proof that the human being is not “inherently good” as the Enlightenment thinkers wanted to believe. Nevertheless, to affirm that every human being has “inherent worth and dignity” does not mean that one is also inherently good. That belief is mixing a moral evaluation (”goodness”, if we can agree what “good” actually means anyway) with an ontological category: that every life, and particularly human life, deserves to be respected and honored. For some of us, this worth is derived from a higher Presence in everyone and everything, that the Sacred is within us and not away from us. A second element to be taken into account is free will: if we are totally conditioned and dependent on a higher and alien power that controls our destiny, call it God or the Devil, then we are not ultimately responsible for our deeds. If we affirm free will, then we are responsible, at least partially, of our “good” and “bad” actions. And part of that freedom is to violate and obliterate that higher worth that has been given to us.
Comment by Jaume — May 25, 2007 #
If that’s what she thinks, she misunderstands Satan.
Satan doesn’t go around derailing the careers of aspiring ministers before they begin because he feels threatened.
Offering otherwise well-meaning people the chance to lie to themselves, so that they are willing to stand by passively while evil unfolds around them, now that’s more like the Great Deceiver’s usual M. O.
Comment by fausto — May 25, 2007 #
Rev.,
The wife says that Satan made the father of her baby kill the baby. I don’t have much respect for that concept of Satan. Martin Luther wrote about Satan in his commentary on “Letters to The Galatians.” For example, he wrote that a minister must be sure of his calling because Satan will otherwise attempt to undermine it. That is the concept of Satan, which I can understand. It is more modern.
Tom
Comment by Tom — May 25, 2007 #
There was a young mother not too long ago - perhaps a year or so - who killed her child by putting it in the microwave. It is hard to believe anyone could do such a thing - and even harder to believe it’s happened again. I think in the case of the young mother, she had some psychological issues and basically “snapped.”
Comment by h sofia — June 4, 2007 #