Rhea

just some random thoughts...

"She was brainwashed"
- - - You mean again?

"It was a cult"
- - - Can we name a single religion that did NOT start out being called a "cult"?

"She was brainwashed"
- - - Any reason to think she'd be open to that?

"He was delusional"
- - - wasn't Jesus accused of this, too?

"She was taken from her bed at gunpoint"
- - - Note to Self: remember to teach children that bad people try to take you AWAY from safety. Do not trust them. Yell. Loudly & repeatedly. (Anyone with experience in crime/criminals have a different opinion?)

Those are just my random thoughts for the moment.

christ-on-a-stick

Hi Rhea - my thoughts are along the same lines as yours. In particular, In the thread up in GRD about this, Baidarka wrote: And I couldn't agree more.

I think some people may be offended by this observation because it may seem insensitive to the family and imply "blaming the victim". Let me say that I do not think *anyone* deserves to have such an awful thing happen to them (having their child kidnapped and not knowing for 9 months if she is alive or dead and what happened to her). I can't even imagine how tortorous these past months have been for them and I am thrilled that Elizabeth is alive and well.

However, I don't think it is unreasonable to take an unflinching look at how the family's devout superstition *may have* contributed to Elizabeth being a more susceptible target. It doesn't make her being kidnapped "their fault" in any way shape or form but it's something worth pondering when we speak of the harmful "side effects" of religion and discuss whether believing in magical-mystery-supernatural stuff is ever really "harmless" after all.