Abstract A self-help group of mothers with children having a mental handicap, living in a poor area of South Delhi, India, met regularly with the author to discuss the role played by their different religious faiths, beliefs and practices in coping with the diagnosis of their children's impairments, and raising the children amidst social stigma or indifference. Together they wrestled with the question of whether God was responsible for their predicament, their own actions had deserved some penalty, they could get any help by increased prayers and religious rituals, or whether they should just accept their destiny and expect nothing. The women reported receiving no practical help from organized religion. They had benefited more by participation in the Self-Help Group.