I (24F) live in Texas. My sister (7F) lives in Virginia. Our mother and their community keep tearing her down about her ever changing interests and physical appearance of her hair. How can I help her from here?

I recently went home for the holidays. Spending time with my baby sister was amazing however the way my mother and her community talk to her really rubs me the wrong way. For a long time, her favorite animal was a bat. Her community has made it a personal mission of theirs to constantly talk about how evil and dangerous bats are. She held a strong interest in dinosaurs. I took her to the zoo and she told me that her nanny told her dinosaurs aren't real. Right now she thinks snakes are the cutest animal. Her community told her that snakes are the devil, not cute, and all can and will hurt you. At the zoo, she would be in awe at the snakes, but as soon as mother would walk by she would pretend to cry and be scared. With me, all reptiles we're adorable. Especially the snakehead turtles. She sat in front of that tank for 15 minutes in awe at how cute they were. Her hair is short thin curly and blonde. Not a single day went by when our mother didn't make a snide comment about it being too short or too thin or frizzy. My sister's demeanor would change entirely every time a comment was made. She would go from happy and bubbly to cranky and lethargic. On Thanksgiving Day she spent 20 minutes brushing her hair and putting products in it. I asked what she was doing and she said: "I want to be pretty for mommy."For a while, she struggled with school. As I've observed she doesn't have a learning disability. Our mother just does all of her homework for her and gets angry if my sister protests and wants to do it herself. There are no age-appropriate books in the house. Just baby books, toddler books, and the Bible. At her school's request for more challenging books, mother bought her a think "Intro to finances" textbook. My sister checked out Harry Potter and she returned it because she believed it to be too difficult because my sister didn't finish reading it within 3 days. I told her she wouldn't succeed academically if she keeps doing this. She told me that she doesn't care because she wants my sister to never go to college and leave her. She said she wouldn't care if she dropped out of high school because then she (sister) would live with her and my sister can take care of her for the rest of her life.How can I help her? Our mother mentioned that she wants her to never grow up and be independent. She resents me turning from religion and going to college in Texas. She and the community believe that learning about animals and history is frivolous because she needs to focus on looks to find a husband in the future and Jesus. via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/33H5SmB