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When Parents Call God Instead of the Doctor

Posted by James Tracy

By Deena Guzder Thursday, Feb. 05, 2009

kara_newman_0205

On Easter Sunday of 2008, 11-year-old Kara Neumann of Weston, Wisconsin, suffered waves of nausea as she lay motionless on her deathbed, too weak to walk or speak. Kara’s parents — both followers of the Unleavened Bread Ministries, an online church that shuns medical intervention — knelt in prayer beside their dying daughter. They did not call a doctor for help. A few hours later, Kara died of diabetes, a relatively common — and treatable — condition.

Within weeks, a Wisconsin state attorney brought charges of reckless endangerment against Kara’s parents, Dale and Leilani Neumann. The couple protested on grounds of religious freedom, but Judge Vincent Howard of Marathon County Circuit Court ordered Mr. and Mrs. Neumann to stand trial this spring. If convicted, each faces up to 25 years in prison. Unleavened Bread Ministries immediately released a statement saying the couple is being unfairly punished for the “crime of praying.”

The Neumanns’ highly anticipated trial has sparked new debate in a long-running battle over faith healing in the United States. Under current Wisconsin law, a parent cannot be convicted of child abuse or negligent homicide if they can prove they genuinely believed that calling God, instead of a doctor, was the best option available for their child. The law is part of the legacy of the 1996 Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, which included a landmark exemption for parents who do not seek medical care for their children for religious purposes. While all states give social service authorities the right to intervene in cases of child neglect, criminal codes in 29 other states also provide additional protection for parents who forgo mainstream medical treatment….

Read the full Time.com Article…

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Posted on Monday, February 16th, 2009 at 10:55 pm in Child abuse, Religion.

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James Tracy

Child abuse takes many forms, as does the effects of religious indoctrination on children. This is among the worst – the death of innocent children who have no choice but to participate in their parent's deadly games of religious superstition.

» Posted on February 17, 2009 at 6:58 am

Anonymous

Mom Blogs – Blogs for Moms…

…

» Posted on February 17, 2009 at 5:04 am

Richard_Collins

Just about every state in the nation has enacted special exceptions for religious objectors, otherwise this could not be happening. The root problem is our doctrine of parental rights.

» Posted on February 17, 2009 at 6:34 pm

hambydammit

In a rational debate, we would expect the group asking for special dispensation to provide evidence for their status and its exemption. Instead, we get threats, ridicule, and outrage.

This treads on dangerous territory. In the article I just posted on kin selection, we can see that the evolutionary urge for parents to jealously protect their children is NOT necessarily the most logical of all situations. In fact, it's not hard to imagine that it's sometimes quite harmful. Hell, we only need to turn on the TV to see the truth of it.

No, parents don't get special treatment because they're parents. Any guy and any girl can get together and make a baby. It doesn't take any magic, and there's nothing special about it. Life has been reproducing for billions of years. If our intelligence is worth anything, we can use it to examine our emotions and determine that they're not always in our best interest. Just because their genitals worked properly, it doesn't mean they will be good parents, or that they have a right to do anything they want to their children.

» Posted on February 17, 2009 at 6:52 pm

James Tracy

"In a rational debate, we would expect the group asking for special dispensation to provide evidence for their status and its exemption."

That is exactly it. If I believed that I needed to consult a voodoo witch doctor to cast out the demonic entities inhabiting my child because I believe that is the proper approach to any apparent illness, why should such claims be taken seriously and a child's life put in danger? The problem is that in our Christianized society prayer doesn't seem nearly as outrageous as voodoo even though it has no more evidential value.

» Posted on February 18, 2009 at 2:58 am

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