Warning and Disclaimer: If you are religious, and are easily offended by criticism of your religion, you should probably stop reading now and move on. I am angry and this post will reflect some of that.

I came across the post below on Facebook. I don’t know the poster, and I don’t know any but one of the commenters. So I am an unrelated observer, and I am outraged. Here is the post:

Here is the transcript:

Yesterday, I received terrible news. Two of my twin girls students went hiking with there [sic] Mom and other sisters in Julian at a 101 degrees [sic] in the local mountains. XXX and YYY twin girls got dehydrated and they were weak and XXX fainted. They did not carry enough water and it was a 45 minute hike back for help. A good Samaritan carried XXX down the Mtn. She was in the hospital with severe heat stroke and went into a coma. Our XXX passed away yesterday. My sweet daughter in Christ you are in great hands now! We will miss you! God Bless You – Until we meet again. Always in my heart.

I cannot tell if the person who posted this is the father, or a teacher, or a minister. It is a terrible tragedy, and I thought it was tacky to be posting this on Facebook. What is one supposed to say to that? Given the tragic content, their friends did a pretty good job expressing their sorrow, pain and overall condolences.

If I were a friend, I would not know what to say to this, so I’d probably be quiet. But I am not a friend, just a casual bystander. Therefore, my comments are below the comments I lifted from the post.

Taking small children hiking in the mountains at 101 degrees is idiotic. Not bringing enough water shows added stupidity. Going 45 minutes out under those conditions is reckless. These girls didn’t just pass out all of a sudden. I am sure they showed signs of fatigue long before and complained, giving the parent a chance to turn around. The whole event is RECKLESS CHILD ENDANGERMENT. And it didn’t just end in endangerment. A child was killed by reckless parental negligence.

I can see that none of the Facebook friends wanted to say that, but I am sure some of them thought it before they posted their condolences.

But what’s worst, to me, beyond the incredible tastelessness of the original poster putting this on Facebook and thus exposing the parent’s recklessness, is his lame excuse at the end that is supposed to make it tolerable or acceptable:

My sweet daughter in Christ you are in great hands now! We will miss you! God Bless You – Until we meet again.

No, the little girl is not in great hands now.

She’s dead!

Her life was recklessly thrown away by a stupid and uninformed parent who took incalculable risks with the lives of her children. “May God bless her and her family” isn’t going to bring her back. If God had blessed this family, he would have given the mother more common sense. Giving prayers to this family is also not bringing the little girl back. Somebody ought to give a serious talking to this family. The mother needs counseling, or perhaps belongs in jail, since she is not any better than vaccine deniers, or those cults that deny their members medical care in case of illness.

My problem with religion is that it gives perpetrators excuses for their lack of responsibility and duty. It gives bystanders cause for rationalization that God has somehow caused this to happen so he can now “wrap his tender hands around this girl and her family.” Religion somehow makes all this easier to take.

I just hope that after this public post, Child Protective Services initiates a serious investigation into this family.