If he can't heal you with faith, he can always drink your blood.
Your right to freedom of religion ends where my right to freedom from religion begins. When your practice of your religion encroaches upon my life, liberty or property, you no longer have the right to freely practice said religion. Parking lot proseltyzers and door knockers are annoying enough, but that's all they really are - annoying. I'm pretty quick to tell them to bugger off and go on my merry way. Right now, I'm talking about those theists who practice faith healing as one of the tenants of their beliefs.
If a consenting adult wishes to forego modern medical treatment in lieu of so-called faith healing, that is his/her perogative. Parents (or other allegedly responsible adults) who inflict these beliefs on children to the point that the child dies for want of medical attention are a whole different argument. While I certainly think it is foolish at the very least to think that skydaddy, Jebus or the righteous spook will heal your ailments, if you are an adult and are doing so of your own free will (as opposed to being pressured to do so by a controlling spouse, clergy, etc.), then by all means do your thing. A child, on the other hand, is not making that decision of his/her own free will. A child is having an adult's delusions inflicted upon him/her. A child does not have the capacity to knowingly reject medical care. A child does not fully understand the consequences of rejecting medical care in favor of superstition. Any adult who would deprive a child of medical care and then hide behind the First Amendment to do it should be horsewhipped.
What has me in such a dither, you're wondering? This. A pre-term baby who probably would have survived with medical attention instead died the day he was born because his parents are members of the Followers of Christ congregation in Oregon. The mother had no prenatal care, and the birth was not attended by anyone with any medical training. I'm speculating now, but prenatal care could have prevented a preterm birth. Maybe not, but both mother and child would be in a better position to survive. This church has a rather high death rate among children. Haven't they figured out yet that skydaddy is going to say no to their requests. Well, actually, he isn't saying no. He's not there to say anything, and they're causing children to die because they refuse to accept that no holy being from the sky is going to swoop down and heal their child. What is wrong with these people that the are so warped in their way of thinking that they would prefer to let a child die than seek medical care? This furthers my thinking that believers are motivated by two things - fear and greed. Apparently, they feared skydaddy's wrath to the point that they would prefer to allow their newborn to die believing it was skydaddy's will rather than risk pissing him off by seeking medical care, thus facing eternal damnation.
I'm repeating myself, but it's worth saying until these people get it through their thick skulls. If you want to decline medical care in favor of religious rituals for yourself, fine. Knock yourself out. When your practice of your religion involves denying others of medical treatment, you have stepped outside the sheilding cloak of the First Amendment and are now encroaching upon the life and liberty of others.
Unfortunately the courts have not been consistent in their rulings against these imbeciles. Until these poractioners of child muder and abuse are given life terms for practicing this voodoo it will continue.
ReplyDeleteFunny, if aztecs or mayans tried to practice "freedom of religion" by sacrificing people to their gods, the courts would have no problem throwing the book at them even if the victinm was a willing participant. But when a child is killed by religionist's neglect as part of THEIR delusion, the courts don't seem to know what the fuck to do.
Yeah, and it seems as plain as the noses on their collective faces. When your religious practices causes me bodily harm without my knowledgeable, willing consent, you have gone past the bounds of the First Amendment regardless of your relationship to me. A newborn baby in incapable of giving consent. They killed the little fellow as surely as if they'd have picked him up and slammed him against the pavement. And yet the same people who would support these goons' failure to seek medical care for their children are also the goons who picket abortion clinics.
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