In general, I think the whole freedom-of-religion clause applies in the sense you can believe whatever you want, as long as it does not infringe upon the rights of another. If my pharmacist decides that she does not believe in antihistamines, I think she should get another job, not sue me for wanting medicine. If my next door neighbor wants to slaughter chickens, I think he should be able to as long as they don’t make too much noise after, say, 10pm, and as long as the remains are disposed of appropriately.
Here are two articles which could well be the same one: “Jesus is My Health Insurance” from the Onion and “Faith healing church parents charged over toddler’s death” from the Guardian [hat tip].
This is the danger of religion. Yes, it is an extreme example, but it is exactly why teaching children religion should be considered child abuse and exactly why imposing your own beliefs onto someone else should be wrong.
I find this deeply ironic given the recent diatribe given by Illinois Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago) in which she stated it was “dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy [that is, atheism] exists!” Well, with parents like these we won’t ever have to worry about what our children are learning: they simply won’t live long enough to get taught! [hat tip].
10 responses so far ↓
1 John // Apr 9, 2008 at 10:36 am
Thanks for capturing these topics, xJane. They’ve been much on my mind. I think that you’ve made it all the more ironic by including the death of a child by faith healing inspired neglect and Davis’ charge that merely the awareness of atheism as an option is dangerous to our children. Belief killed little Ava Worthington and Kara Neumann.
Kara’s death has especially bothered me. A couple of ironic quotes from the police chief:
Speaking about Kara’s siblings, who have been removed by the state from their home:
“There is no physical evidence of abuse or neglect”
and about the possibility of pressing charges:
“There is no intent. They didn’t want their child to die. They thought what they were doing was the right thing,” he said. “They believed up to the time she stopped breathing she was going to get better. They just thought it was a spiritual attack. They believed if they prayed enough she would get through it.”
This, to me, is the scary bit. I want to have some compassion towards these parents, to understand their situation better, but they should not be excused for believing the wrong thing. The dangers and the insanity of faith-healing should be highlighted and trumpeted from the Internet equivalent of rooftops, not justified and explained away as understandable, forgivable behavior.
2 xJane // Apr 10, 2008 at 6:05 am
I also find it interesting following on the heels of your post on cults: if they were involved in a cult, they would be given some leeway for being duped, but everyone would still understand that they were duped. The only difference I can see between belief in God and belief that you’re Napoleon is that the first is a common ailment.
3 John // Apr 10, 2008 at 8:17 am
I think we have to be careful, though, not to throw all theists into the same bin. The vast majority of God-fearing parents would’ve hedged their bets, praying and also exercising their faith in modern medical science by getting their kid to a doctor at the first signs of serious illness.
4 Meg // Apr 11, 2008 at 5:53 am
Hear, hear. It baffles me that many forms of child abuse & neglect are labeled “OK” by society as long as they hide behind the facade of religion. Just a small step sideways and this would have caused outrage. What if the parents were members of one of the obscure churches that worships pot, instead of Christian?
5 James McGrath // Apr 30, 2008 at 5:22 am
I agree that there are abusive forms of religion, but I think it is important to not generalize too sweepingly. I posted about this subject on my blog, and I do hope you’ll pay a visit, since I spend a lot of time talking about science fiction as well as religion, too!
6 xJane // Apr 30, 2008 at 6:01 pm
(cross posted)
James: abuse in religion comes in many forms. This particular case ended up being physically manifested (death is pretty physical, although it may also be considered both emotional and spiritual). The fact that this is an extreme example does not absolve religion of the ongoing emotional & spiritual abuse that is the norm in all religions. I will agree with you that it is not inherent in all religions, but the way that religion is practiced is often abusive.
Prayer can have its place. Its effects on the brain are very well documented. However, prayer advised by religion can often be stupid at best, deadly in this case.
7 xJane // May 4, 2008 at 2:36 pm
there’s a great postscript to this over at Religion Dispatches: namely, why have these parents, who put trust in their deity over trust in the medical profession, not similarly just their deity over the legal profession? This may be the very first instance where lawyers are not considered tools of satan!
8 xJane // May 14, 2008 at 6:42 am
I’m sure by now everyone’s heard of the recent honor killing in Iraq, but here is the absolutely chilling interview with the murderer/father. And I really do have to lump it in with this (and with the FLDS raid…read the end with the victim’s mother).
9 xJane // Oct 3, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Some parents are being charged with homicide for relying on prayer—it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. If someone wants to die for their beliefs, that’s one thing. Killing for them (even negligently) is completely different. If this suit is successful, maybe it will have implications for this war we’ve gotten ourselves into—since a startling number of politicians believe that they’re doing God’s work by attacking wrong-religion countries. via.
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