Well, according to the news, Al-Zarqawi is now a nominee for the Darwin Awards. That's several hundred fewer Iraqis who will not be killed because of this Jordanian's lunacy.

MrsS:
While my heart aches for the tragedy of your Baptist aquaintances, my brain can't help but be appalled that they left a sixteen-year-old ALONE for TWO WEEKS and were surprised that something bad happened.
You're kidding, right?
Wait, you're not. Good grief. Sixteen is quite old enough to take care of oneself for a lot of sixteen-year-olds and this story doesn't exactly prove otherwise. Being killed at a crosswalk is not a result of being left at home for two weeks.
Plenty of quite ordinary people leave home by sixteen for study or other reasons.

Suicides often take off their shoes before they jump, I understand. So probably a suicide sign.

I think that God gave this man his rational faculties to keep him from climbing into the lioness' cage in the first place. THAT's the lifeline that God sent to save him . . .
Unless, of course, this poor man was truly insane, and therefore had no use of his rational faculties, in which case I hope perpetual light may eternally shine on him.

MissJean:
While my heart aches for the tragedy of your Baptist aquaintances, my brain can't help but be appalled that they left a sixteen-year-old ALONE for TWO WEEKS and were surprised that something bad happened.
I wouldn't leave my sixteen year old alone overnight, and he's a Scout and an altar boy. My parents wouldn't leave me and I wasn't exactly a party girl.
Besides, getting hit by a car is something that can happen even when Mom & Dad are home. It happened to a friend of my sister's (at age 9) when she was walking home from school.
So often dealing with tragedy we blame God first. It's a good thing to remember when talking with ex-Catholics. Is there an apologetics article that deals with this subject?

I have to agree with J.R. Stoodley - I've never liked the Darwin Awards. Someone is mourning each of the poor souls nominated and mocked across the Internet.

I hate the "Darwin Award" stuff. This man was probably a poor insane wretch who died a tragic death, and now people all over the world are cracking jokes about it. I'd call this attitude that it is ok another example of "false balance." Sorry, I don't mean to be combative, I guess I'm just no fun when it comes to death.

Yup. Deranged. Poor man.

I think the Reuters version of the story is kind of cold-hearted and twisted.
Here is a UPI version:
--
Investigators in Kiev ruled Tuesday a man who died in the jaws of a lion at the city zoo was attempting suicide when he lowered himself into the enclosure.
The unidentified 45-year-old man of Azerbaijani descent reportedly asked keepers questions about lions' habits on Sunday, zoo Director Yevheniy Kirilyuk said.
Witnesses said the man then appeared to say a prayer, and used a rope to lower himself onto the island where the lions live, Russia's Novosti news agency said.
As others yelled for him to get out, he approached a lioness, swinging his arms, and the animal lunged, the report said.
Ukraine's Interior Ministry said the man died from a single bite to the throat.
---
The poor man was clearly mentally ill and suicidal, and committed suicide by lioness.
87% of Azerbaijanis are Muslim.
The next largest religous group is Christians (Russian Orthodox and Armenian).
Then animists, etc.
Zoroaster was from that part of the world.
I think this tragic story is about mental illness, and has very little to do, actually, with religion.

This person was most likely mentally ill. Even the most dramatic agnostics I know would find this sort of thing idiotic and suicidal, not to mention pointless as agnosticism denies that man can know with certainty if God exists or not.

Was he an agnostic, or a deeply despairing believer of some sort?

"Looks like he's out of the running." Not to mention the gene pool. Guess you could say he won the Darwin Award that way.

Unfortunately, according to the rules on the page, climbing into zoo cages is no longer a valid way of "winning", as it is too common a death. Looks like he's out of the running.
http://www.darwinawards.com/rules/

Sadly, this reminds me of a Baptist woman of my aquaintance. She and her husband used to be Catholic, but they decided that the Blessed Mother's intercession was a crock. You see, they went on vacation for two weeks and left their 16-year-old daughter by herself. They commended her to the protection of Mary - and the girl was killed while crossing a busy intersection.
When told about this, I sympathized, but all I could think was that their daughter was taken to the safest place of all.

God gave man the ability to control nature... to set up cages that lions can't escape from, to train lions to behave, to make weapons and tools to defend against the lions. And if a lion approaches you in the wild, you have the God-given ability to realize that a stroll in the opposite direction might be a well-advised career move.
God gave this guy a brain, but he threw it away. Perhaps he will spend his time in purgatory wishing he hadn't.

Regardless, I still hope he's in heaven now...

I've seen people act similarly. Often they have some mental problems and do not know what they are doing. I have an acquaintance who would suddenly scream and run in the middle of the street, unaware of the dangers of being hit by speeding buses. One time he even jumped on my back and tried to strangle me, without knowing it.

Took his shoes off? He confused a lion with a burning bush?

This is your brain on drugs.

This (sort of) reminds me of a story that goes something like this: during a bad flood, a man took refuge on his roof. First, a resuce boat motored by, and the would-be rescuer yelled "hop in!" and the man shook his head, saying, "God will save me". The waters continued to rise. A second boat came by, and again the man refused, saying that God will save me. The waters kept rising, now lapping the shingles. A helicopter hovered overhead, and a harness was lowered. Over the bullhorn, the rescuer shouted "Grab hold!" But, the man refused a third time, shouting "God will save me!". The helicopter flew off as the waters rose higher and higher. Finally, the house collapsed, and the man drowned. When he met God, the man was indignant. "Why didn't you save me?" he cried. God replied, "Well, let's see, I sent you two boats, a helicopter...."

He didn't get the message when God (for the most part) didn't prevent the early Christians from being killed by lions in the Roman arenas?

Stupidity is often a capital offense.