Couple guilty of manslaughter in child’s death
There seems to ample evidence that their faith healing alone doesn’t work. I’m not sure if they believe God wants them to suffer more, or if they just can’t count headstones, or perhaps they don’t know what childhood survival rates are in the outside world. However, there seems to be a great deal of evidence that God wishes us to go to doctors, and avail ourselves of the scientific advances of this world.
The alternative is that God wishes us to suffer, and this makes no sense.
This isn’t a matter of religious freedom; they are free to not go to doctors themselves. (Except, oddly, dentists and optometrists. I would be interested in hearing why they make this exception.)
Many religions, including mine, believe in prayer and anointing of the sick, we just believe in it in addition to medical care. I’ve heard of prayers that the doctors would be blessed to do the best job they could, or that a treatment would be effective.
My heart goes out to this couple, but my greater sympathy goes to the children who are suffering, and unable to choose whether or not to go to the doctor. Failing to seek emergency medical care for a child is abuse, and will have to be treated as such.
