In the days, perhaps weeks, before their daughter died of diabetic ketoacidosis — an illness authorities contend could have been readily treated — Dale and Leilani Neumann refused to seek medical care. They did so despite the girl's worsening condition and despite the urging of family members and friends. Instead, they insisted her body was a battleground in a spiritual war between Jesus Christ and the forces of Hell. Only by resisting worldly medicine, they believed, could she be saved.
Go ahead and read that again. I'll wait. This eleven year old girl, that should have been worried about whether an awkward pre-teen boy liked her, was instead a pawn in a spiritual movement. All the while, relatives and friends alike were begging the family to seek medical attention for the poor child. And the parents will likely avoid prosecution because in Wisconsin (and many other states) there are provisions that say parents are free from charges of neglect and abuse if they are using faith as an alternative to medicine.
Now I realize there is nothing in the article about whether the little girl had asked her parents to seek medical help (we can only assume that she didn't), but what if the tables were reversed? What if her parents had insisted that they immediately go see a doctor, but she instead wanted to test the "holy waters?" The state would then, assuredly step in, or bring charges forth if death had occurred. Don't believe me? There's a case of a child being treated for leukemia in Canada in which a boy who refused medical attention was taken into custody by the state who was going to make sure the boy saw the treatment through to the end. Just in Canada? Not so much. If these children were seeking faith heeling as an alternative, would they still be brought into custody for their forced treatments? It astounds me that people can look at some of these cases and deem that children must undergo these treatments but will look the other way when it comes to faith healing.
These people believe that faith healing is sound, they have to believe it, I have no doubt. The seemingly dark-age ritual is only around in modern times because of the Christian Scientist movement, a movement that goes back to the late 1800s. I'm not saying that this powerful organization with lobbyists and lawyers galore (if your God is so powerful, why would he need lobbyists and lawyers?), doesn't believe in its objectives, I just feel that if these people can convince others to seek healing as an alternative to medicine (which is clearly the case) then these churches should be held responsible for the deaths of the people that seek divine intervention as opposed to medicine. How many deaths by faith would we see then?
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