Killers or Victims of Religious Brainwashing?

A few days ago two girls in Wisconsin tried to murder a friend because of an Internet meme:

Police also say [the victim's] attackers, both 12-year-old, claimed they tried to kill their friend in order to please "Slender Man," a demon-like character that has been floating through the Internet since around 2009. They thought her death would appease Slender Man, who would appear and let his "proxies" live with him at his mansion in the woods. They thought the sacrifice of their friend would protect their families from him and allow him to come out of hiding. Instead, they are now facing dozens of years behind bars.

The girls are being held on half-a-million dollars bail, and will be tried as adults.

This is totally insane, but sadly predictable. We constantly fill our children's heads with lies and pretend they're real: Santa Claus, the Easter bunny, the tooth fairy, Scientology, and all the other hokum posing as religion.

We program children to be gullible and accept things on faith, rather than ask the hard questions and demand real evidence. Is it any wonder that they pull crap like this?

The people who post stories and Photoshop pictures on the website these girls read aren't responsible for this attack. They're just having fun, writing fiction.

These girls are clearly mentally ill, but you have to ask: what responsibility do purveyors of religion have for pushing the idea that demons and devils and Satan are real? If these girls had been raised with a healthy cynicism for all things supernatural, would they be facing life in prison?

Are these kids killers or victims of religious brainwashing?