Regrettably, the story of the failed child resurrection that I shared last week (here) did, indeed, have a terrible preamble. Turns out that the failed resurrection of a two year old in Balch Springs, a Dallas suburb, was (allegedly) killed by his church. The child was starved to death because his church leaders believed the child was possessed.

A pastor at a church in a Texas suburb has been accused of starving a two-year-old boy to death because she believed he was possessed by demons.

Demons.

Its 2015, a child died because we are still fighting demons.

Church members attempted to “resurrect” the child before taking his body to Mexico for burial. The child’s mother did not report the death; the police were reportedly told about the resurrection ritual by an anonymous tipster.

The child was starved for 25 days and when a church member tried to feed the child, he was scolded and prevented from doing so by others.

Mahatma Gandhi’s hunger strike, was 21 days:

Starvation is a process. Very quick review:

The first 24 to 48 hours without food, your brain uses glucose for fuel and your body goes into ketosis.



At 72 hours, all the cells in your body will start to break down protein that releases amino acids into the bloodstream. You then enter autophagy where your muscle mass starts to waste away. The body cannibalizes yourself.



Eventually, the body will run out of options. Glucose, fats, tissue, and muscle mass are finite resources that will eventually be exhausted, and with it, death. The end-stage of starvation typically brings with it one of two different diseases: marasmus and kwashiorkor.



When death does finally arrive, its most immediate cause is by cardiac arrhythmia or a heart attack brought on by either extreme tissue degradation brought about by autophagy (notably diaphragm failure), or severe electrolyte imbalances.

The church, a Spanish-speaking Pentacostal church, is goes by the name Iglesia Congregacional Pueblo De Dios (the Congregational Church of the People of God) and, currently, Iglesia Internacional Jesus es El Rey (the International Church Jesus is the King).

The pastors are Aracely and Daniel Meza, a married couple; Aracely also describes herself on the church’s website as a “prophet.”

Unfortunately, believers don’t tend to overly scrutinize their leaders, least of all their prophets.

Charismatic leaders tend to be endemic in both mainstream religions and are extremely popular in cults. However, how does one differentiate? For outsiders, the difference is only the size of the following? One person’s cult, is often another person’s religion. Many of my Christian friends, look at Mormons like they’re crazy.

As atheists, the fine line basically doesn’t exist for many of us. Angels, demons, possessions, magical undergarments, supernatural, and the like, are all irrational and allow for this kind of unfortunate tragedy.

This time, however, instead of moving people to fear, a culturally crafted social cohesion, or driving a wedge between people and their wallets,

…another child is dead.