RationalWiki:Articles for deletion/Andrea Yates

Andrea Yates | Result: Deleted

Andrea Yates (edit|talk|history|protect|delete|links|watch|logs) – (View log)

Delete

1. This is about a person who committed a terrible crime while suffering from a severe psychosis and depression. The "religious angle" here seems coincidental to me; she could have had delusions about any number of subjects. Carpetsmoker (talk) 07:54, 30 November 2015 (UTC)
2. I have to agree. This seems like a pretty pathetic attempt to make out that Christians are evil. Plenty of people who commit crimes while mentally ill say, "God told me to do it", and not all of those people come from religious backgrounds. Spud (talk) 14:10, 30 November 2015 (UTC)
3. |₹Λ¥$€₦₦ ^{That's why our council tax is so high} 12:40, 3 December 2015 (UTC)

Keep

Useful for showing impact of religion on children. Make the religious angle clear from the psychotic angle. Herr FuzzyKatzenPotato (talk/stalk) 13:07, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

1. All this article needs is a tune-up. Even if one was to argue that the psychotic and religious parts were 100% NOMA (which isn't entirely clear to me that they are), even in that case, the article is still useful against mental illness denial. There are sure to be cranks who think she's a lizard or was a satanist or whatever - worthy of a debunking from us. The article could use more analysis and generally a revamping, but it should stay. Reverend Black Percy (talk) 14:18, 30 November 2015 (UTC)
2. It seems like less an implication of all Christians, just the power of faith in a fragile family which can be abused to tragic ends. This seems mission related in that is explores fundamentalism and the anti-science movements which had a direct part of her "going natural" and choosing to ignore doctors advice. Then ignoring the warning signs, and a forced hospitalization, because of suggestions for prayer and tough love by the families religious authorities. -EmeraldCityWanderer (talk) 15:06, 7 December 2015 (UTC)

Goat

1. Particular examples seem a bit of a departure for us, unless we like the idea in principle of having a host of similar articles. I'd prefer that this be merged into a single article 'Infanticide featuring religious mania' or somesuch, where we can give each case a single line entry summarising the various factors in each case. That could then be cross-linked to mental illness and abortion (specifically the parts debunking the 'termination is bad for the mental health' canard by providing concrete examples to underline the fact that carrying a pregnancy to term is on average worse for mental health) Queex_{chthonic murmurings} 14:27, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

   Ok, wow. This. And this suggestion should totally count as a "Keep" vote. Reverend Black Percy (talk) 14:37, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

   I had a think about this, and it doesn't really address the core problem, which is that it's highly doubtful that religion played a large part in this particular case. The entire argument comes of as a sort of "internet atheist" who tries to "score points" by pointing out at all the bad things religion did. For example if you look at Andrea Yates it says "While in prison, Yates stated she had considered killing the children for two years". It's certainly possible that the religious influence "topped her over the edge", so to speak, but I would consider the evidence for this to be very weak... Carpetsmoker (talk) 15:01, 7 December 2015 (UTC)

2. Do what Queex said. Herr FuzzyKatzenPotato (talk/stalk) 14:52, 7 December 2015 (UTC)