Check out this article in today's Washington Post. Apparently this cult deliberately starved/thirsted a 16-month old to death for not saying Amen; then they carried his dead body around in a suitcase for months, waiting for his resurrection; now Mom is facing murder charges which must be dropped if the poor kid actually does come back to life. There are phrases like these:

Her attorney, Steven Silverman, said the doctors found that her beliefs were indistinguishable from religious beliefs, in part because they were shared by those around her. (para break) "She wasn't delusional, because she was following a religion," Silverman said, describing the findings of the doctors' psychiatric evaluation.

and

Silverman said he and prosecutors think Ramkissoon was brainwashed and should have been found not criminally responsible; prosecutors declined to comment. Although an inability to think critically can be a sign of brainwashing, experts said, the line between that and some religious beliefs can be difficult to discern. (para) "At times there can be an overlap between extreme religious conviction and delusion," said Robert Jay Lifton, a cult expert and psychiatrist who lectures at Harvard Medical School. "It's a difficult area for psychiatry and the legal system."

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