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| Witchvox Chapter: Wren's Nest News | Chapter Page Views: 59,684,661 |
 Ore. Faith-Healers Sentenced To Prison For Son's Death Author: The Associated Press Source: First Amendment Center Title: ORE. FAITH-HEALERS SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR SON'S DEATH The judge who sentenced a couple to prison yesterday for the death of their son says members of their church must quit relying on faith-healing when their children’s lives are at stake. “The fact is, too many children have died unnecessarily — a graveyard full,” Judge Steven Maurer said. “This has to stop.” Maurer spoke in a quiet, unemotional voice as he led up to his conclusion: Jeffrey and Marci Beagley each should serve 16 months in prison. Members of the Followers of Christ church who packed the courtroom sobbed. | |
| Community Thoughts: There are 10 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| I Agree... | Mar 12th. at 8:12:26 pm EST |
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Hecate's Priestess (Louisville, Kentucky) - Email Me ....with Abaxion. Those parents knowingly placed their child in harm's way by making the decision to not take him to a doctor, and in doing so they were directly responsible for his death. Dress it up any way you like, it's still murder and they need to be held responsible....and 16 months in prison just isn't justice for this child's death. |
| No Excuse... | Mar 12th. at 8:02:44 pm EST |
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Hecate's Priestess (Louisville, Kentucky) - Email Me I am all for religious freedom, but religious freedom and belief in faith healing is absolutely no excuse for ignorance. These people knew of proper medical treatment and still they decided to ignore common sense and reason. Faith healing is great, but it should never be entirely relied upon when your child (or a child) is in dire need of medical attention. Those parents, and all those who refuse common sense, should be held accountable for their actions. This case is not one that questions or even goes against religious freedom/expression. This case is about seeing justice done for the death of a child that could have easily been prevented if the parents had just taken him to see a doctor. There is just no excuse for such feigned ignorance and people like that shouldn't use religious freedom/expression as a crutch for something like this. |
| Bigcat And Emily Dickenson | Mar 12th. at 3:27:49 pm EST |
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Serendipity (Bonita Springs, Florida) - Email Me bigcat and Emily Dickenson bigcat’s post here made me think of a poem by Emily Dickenson. It is not only relevant but also really cute. It goes like this: Faith is a fine invention Where gentlemen can see. But microscopes are prudent In an emergency. True and cute too, what more can you want in a 4 line poem. |
| Believe In "god", But Tie Up Your Horse... | Mar 11th. at 9:37:11 am EST |
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bigcat (peoria, Illinois) - Email Me Sort of analogous to the story joke about a man who died in a flood after refusing help from two boats and a helicopter because he was told "God" had promised to save him. Faith is fine in the right context, but those faith healers have forgotten that "god helps those who help themselves." If faith were all that miraculous, there would be no need for doctors and hospitals. There would be no need for medicines, or x-rays or prosthetic devices. There wouldn't even be a need for 911. But there is. Diseases and accidents are not "tests" and bacteria and viruses don't care about faith and angels. If one is sick, it's best to seek a medical opinion-not a religious one. |
| I Cannot Believe That ..... | Mar 10th. at 5:24:23 pm EST |
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Abaxion (Pomona, California) - Email Me .... some people would defend these whack job parents in the name of "religious freedom". Do not get me wrong, I am all for religious freedom. If you, as a CONSENTING ADULT wish to put your life in danger and deny medical treatment in the hopes that "jesus" will heal you, then fine. Risk your life all you want. However, the moment it endangers the life of a minor or someone that cannot consent, "religious freedom" needs to be thrown out the window. These parents MURDERED their son; plain and simple. I am apalled that all they get is 16 months. They should get, at the very least, LIFE. At the most, they should be given the death penalty. Comments: xthetruth1@aol.com |
| Benjamin Franklin... | Mar 10th. at 11:10:55 am EST |
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Batman (Madison, Wisconsin) - Email Me said something quite appropriate to this: "God does for those who do for themselves." Maybe their god gave them the tools in which to heal their son, and still chose to blaspheme him by testing him, thus, they lost more than this little test of faith. They lost everything by losing their son. And all they had to do is have a little faith in themselves to do the sensible thing. How awful. Is this justice. In this case, losing their son I would think would be lesson enough but the state sees otherwise. But on this one, I'll still side with the state, simply because of their ignorance and stubborness. |
| God Heals Sick. | Mar 10th. at 8:38:39 am EST |
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Sage Moon (North Port, Florida) - Email Me God does heal the sick, through doctors. They have the true "magic". It's called science. |
| True Faith | Mar 10th. at 8:03:25 am EST |
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Keyokwee (Montague, California) - Email Me - Web True Faith begins with common sense. And while I firmly believe in freedom of religion, I personally am glad that laws are being upheld that put common sense boundaries in place. If all religions were allowed that "True Freedom" to practice their faith, I shudder to think of the consequences! The Burning Times would begin in earnest, and no one would be safe ever. For after all, once after you get through decimating everyone who does not live up or down to your criteria, the only one left would be you. And everyone knows that "One Is The Loneliest Number" ;) |
| The Whole Premise Of Faith-healing... | Mar 9th. at 11:54:32 pm EST |
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Verikandle (North Vancouver, British Columbia) - Email Me ... is that it only works if you have faith that it will. People who believe that God will heal a person if they just have enough faith are NOT going to "quit relying on faith-healing when their childrens' lives are at stake; they will believe that the seeming hopelessness of the situation is a test of their faith, and that agreeing to try medical help would undermine their demonstration of faith in God alone (which, to be fair, it would; the government is essentially saying: "You can believe God will heal your children- so long as you don't ACTUALLY BELIEVE God will heal your children") . The only reason one of these people would agree to medical help would be if they didn't really have faith that God would heal their child, and they're terrified that if they don't really believe it, their child's soul is in more danger than their body. The cold truth is that our countries don't actually allow COMPLETE religious freedom. The only religions (or religious ideas) tolerated are those which don't conflict with that particular state's established ideals- in the cases of Canada/the US, that excludes religious ideas which promote physical violence, uses of certain drugs, taking someone else's autonomy away, etc. That's just the way it is- there ARE some religions which DO, genuinely and without apology, promote those things, and frankly I personally think they're sometimes right, but our countries are secular and intended to be safe for diversity; this very protection for diversity does require the elimination of those 'diverse' factions which are AGAINST diversity. Anyway, with relation to this story, I guess I'm just trying to say that the family was quite right in being consistent with their beliefs, and the court was quite right in being consistent with the secular ideals of the state; I'm just looking forward to the day when they'll drop all the political correctness and just explicitly say that certain beliefs are not welcome in these countries. It would be good to get those issues bluntly into the open. |
| Freedom... | Mar 9th. at 10:24:27 pm EST |
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RavenLight (Arlington, Virginia) - Email Me ...of religion... ...as long as nobody gets hurt. If innocents are being harmed, then something needs to be done. |
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