Faith healing doesn’t work; would interfaith healing do better?
No. So why is interfaith such a good thing again? Why is faith a good thing?
It’s not.
Consider Randi and Russel Bellew for instance. (No, I don’t know why Russel spells his own name wrong.)
A Creswell, Ore., husband and wife have pleaded guilty to negligent homicide charges in the faith healing death of their 16-year-old son.
KVAL-TV reports that the teen, Austin Sprout, died at home last December after his appendix burst. Lane County sheriff’s Capt. Byron Trapp says medical professionals believe the boy’s condition was treatable had he been provided medical care.
Ya think?
That’s one hell of a painful death those two damn fools inflicted on their kid.
What I find more painful is the fact that this is not the first time. There have been quite a few other cases of injury/death from ‘faith healing’ – splashed in news articles and blog posts resulting in national notoriety, and yet…
And yet, these people, these foolish, weak-minded supplicants of religious faiths, never – NEVER! – seem to learn, despite these needless, completely avoidable deaths. Such is the deleterious effect of poisoning of the mind by religion. Sigh.
It seems like all these murderers (which is what they are imo) seem to have a weird, prideful piety like “It will work for us because WE have enough faith, those other poor people didn’t love God enough”. It’s revolting. If you’re going to take pride in something make it your ability to take care of your family, not your inability to break through brain paralysis.
Every time I read an account like this, I am thankful that my parents are not so religious that they deny the obvious benefits of medicine. This one hits particularly close to home as I had appendicitis when I was 9. No one should have to die from that. Ever.
I am glad that they were prosecuted and had enough sense at least to realize the hand they played in their son’s death.
I had a ruptured appendix some years ago. The event itself was probably the worst pain I ever experienced, and the whole illness and recovery was just generally the most miserable episode of my entire life. And yet, even at that stage, it’s not that hard to save the victim’s life with routine surgery and modern antibiotics.
What these parents did was criminal folly, indeed.
But did they realize it? I don’t know much about US system of justice, but I know that it sometimes makes it more advantageous for a person to plead guilty, in order to receive a reduced sentence.
If they did, I think any further sentence is unnecessary. To live with the knowledge that you killed your child should be a heavier punishment than anything else…
Faith: Believing in something with no evidence of its existence.
It is okay: they are religious.
Giliell:
But the problem is, “faith” will probably allow them to rationalize their actions away. “He is with GAWD now, Praise Jaysus”.
Of course, punishing them through the courts will also enable them to double down via the feeling of persecution.