Faith-Healing Sect Members Face Trial After Daughter Gets Ill
At the Clackamas County courthouse here, Timothy and Rebecca Wyland sat next to each other — ramrod straight, their shoulders barely touching — as they watched images of their daughter flash on the screen.
At birth, the girl, Alayna, was a pink-cheeked bundle, but by 6 months, a growth the size of a baseball had consumed the left side of her face, pushing her eyeball out of its socket. The Wylands, members of the Followers of Christ Church, a faith-healing sect whose members shun medicine, would not take her to a doctor.“Timothy and Rebecca Wyland — they recognized that medical attention was mandated for this condition,” said Christine Landers, the state prosecutor who is trying the Wylands for first-degree criminal mistreatment, a felony that can carry a five-year prison term. “Instead, they anointed her with oils and laid down hands.”