A bitter truth from the tragedy in Newburgh

This should be on billboards everywhere.

You've probably heard about the woman who killed herself and three of her four young children in Newburgh, New York. Only a ten-year-old son survived after fighting his way out of the car window after his deranged mother drove the vehicle into the river. I want to point out something the news stories fail to mention.

First, I don't blame this woman in any way for what she did. Obviously she was overwhelmed by depression and unable to make a sensible choice in her last moments. It's particularly sad that she arrived at this state of mind because psychological intervention might have saved the day. But she didn't get any help and so she took this drastic step. On so many levels, it never should have happened. However, there's an ominous subtext to this story.

From what I've been able to gather from print articles and TV news, it's a safe bet that the woman was christian. Since they're still performing inane christian ceremonies down by the dock where she murdered her children, this seems very likely. Plus, there was a big image of jesus on her front door the day after the tragedy. Hard to say if it was there before she murdered these innocent children, but the signs all seem to indicate that the woman was a "good christian".

So I ask a simple question: How much easier was it for this woman to murder her young children directly because of her ludicrous belief in jeebus? After all, the children would only be uncomfortable for a minute or two -- and then they'd be safe for all eternity in jeebus' arms. Hallelujah!

Do you think that without this inane belief in the christian afterlife, she would have taken the lives of her children? Jeebus makes it really easy to kill kids, and that's a fact. Easy as pie, in fact -- because the only thing that really matters is the children's nonexistent, make-believe, never-gonna-happen afterlife with jeebus.

Christianity is disgusting in so many ways. This is one of them.

UPDATE: From NY Daily News, April 17, 2011.

McWilliams said Armstrong and her children were regulars at his Spring Valley, N.Y., church and that the deaths stunned him.

"I believe she believed strongly in her faith," McWilliams said. "Not only was she here, she always brought her children.