Many Questions Raised by S.F. Child Murders

So many things are wrong in this story from San Francisco.

Of course the first question anyone would have would be 'Why'?
It seems clear already that the mother of these children needed psychiatric care and was not receiving it, or at the very least was not being fully treated. The mother has indicated that 'voices in her head' told her to kill the children. Does anyone out there think that it could have been 'God' telling her to do this? How would we know if it was 'God' or not?

But knowing that the mom was not well, you have to ask yourself why she was still having children. One of the children was 2 years and another 16 months. Was there no one in her family or friends who encouraged her to abstain from giving birth to more children until she was well? If her diagnosis of schizophrenia was after her last birth, was their no concern for the well being of her children? Did anyone consider that she might not be in the best mental state to care for them?

From the interviews conducted with family and friends, it seems clear that most of them were aware that she talked to herself and was not well. What amazes me is that in the same interview a friend is quoted as saying that 'I know she would never harm her children. I KNOW'. Isn't absolute certainty and denial of the obvious a wonderful thing? Her friend has just killed her three children, yet she 'knows' that she would never hurt them. Wake up honey, she just killed her kids.

And finally, there is the family who are witnessed at the pier holding hands and praying. How exactly, do you suppose, that prayer went? What do you say to your 'God' when your daughter, sister, aunt or niece murders her three children because 'God' felt fit to make her mentally ill? The family clearly knows at this point that she needed mental health services and was denied them. They are at least somewhat rational in seeking a secular solution to her problems. But why pray? I just don't get the believers need to pray when their 'God' has just caused absolute tragedy in the family.

If the prayer was, as many are, for 'God's will to be done', then how can we question what the mother did? If it was 'God's will' for this to happen, then the mother did exactly what 'God' wanted her to do. For that matter, how can believers question any tragedy that occurs since it is all a part of 'God's plan'. So again, what is the point of praying about it?

When something like this occurs, I am certainly glad to be free of religion so that I don't have to face the absurdity of pretending there is divine design behind this terrible event and I don't have to come to terms with the emotional betrayal of a 'Loving God'.

prayer
religion