Hi. Im new here. I have been lurking for a couple weeks with no real desire to post until recently. I am NOT a Christian; but, I am respectful and Im not here to flame. I like the balance of this site. It is nice to see a place where christians and non-Christians can "live" with each other in relative harmony. My intentions are not to disrupt things. That being said...I have a question Id like to ask of the Christians: how do you justify mental defects in human beings, from a religious standpoint? How would you explain why babies are born into this world suffering from mental retardation, austism or Down's Syndrome etc.(and to lesser extent illnesses like schizophrenia and other psychoses that usually develop in the adult human)? To me these "afflictions" are on a whole different strata than any physical ailment because with these mental conditions the subject is robbed of something that most people would consider intrinsically human (I am not implying that they are less-than-human), namely intellect and probably an array of complex emotions in some cases as well(and in the case of psychoses-their sanity). How do Christians reason why this is allowed to happen? Thank you. I am looking forward to replies.