cjm – what difference would it have made? I’ll tell you what difference it would have made. It would have exposed the mother to the dangers of major surgery, to say nothing of making it less likely she could give birth naturally in the future – for the sake of giving something that wasn’t remotely human (remember – no higher brain functions?) a few minutes to a few hours to live in extreme agony, assuming it could realise and feel such. Presumably, the other benefit would be the possibility of performing some sort of magical ritual on the newborn, possibly including the splashing of water over the mindless lump. (We don’t know what religion these two followed.)

Religious fanatics make me want to throw up. What a Christian should ask is “What would Jesus do?” Unfortunately, far too many “Christians” have faith in the rituals and none in God. Terry Pratchett nailed this one; read “Small Gods” – which in my view ought to be required reading in seminaries.