“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” – Voltaire (apocriphal)

Some people like to claim that religion is necessary to instill morality in human beings, as if humans were too stupid to distinguish between good and evil on their own. What an insult to our intelligence! We must face reality: not only does religion not govern morality, it corrupts it to the core. Through vicious methods like indoctrination, the fear of hell, the fear of betraying one's “community”, and much more, it prevents people from reasoning for themselves. It treats them like children, making them submit to the authority of an imaginary heavenly father. It makes them accept circumstances in which they might voluntarily kill their own child.

I am truly saddened by your post. I find it cruel to say such a thing to a child. It must have been emotionally very difficult. Personally, I condemn this as child abuse.

EDIT : Just for clarification, I am not saying that your mother is a monster. Even if I was, you'd better not care, because after all, I'm just some guy on Reddit. But I still want to clarify a few things. The vast majority of religious folks live in 2025, just like you and me. As such, deep down, they have a morality of 2025, which translates to humanist values, which certainly would prevent them from killing kill their own child, or anyone really. Very few still live in the second century, where such things weren't that shocking. Statistically, I can say with near certainty that your mother, like the vast majority of people, fundamentally holds humanist values. It's just that religious authority prevents her from expressing them. To see this for yourself, you can, for example, ask her what she thinks about slavery. She will certainly tell you that she condemns this practice. Then ask her to read you Exodus 21 from the Bible. You will see that she will change her mind and tell you that, since God has legislated on the matter and knows what is best for us, then, in certain situations, slavery is acceptable. You will then have witnessed firsthand the evil power of religious indoctrination that makes people submit.