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THE QUESTION
Faith Healing or Child Abuse?
What should be done when parents rely on religion instead of medicine to heal sick children?
Posted by
Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham on May 26, 2009 3:53 AM
FROM THE PANEL
Parents Relying on Religion to Heal Sick Children
The peculiar abuse of withholding medical treatment on the part of pious but misinformed people, is simply one more tragic chapter in the dark side of religious history.
Posted by John Shelby Spong, on June 1, 2009 2:58 PM
Sometimes Government Must Act
The courts should exercise great caution in undermining a family's rights or disallowing any lifestyle.
Posted by John Mark Reynolds, on May 29, 2009 1:42 PM
Use Every Available Means To Save A Life
Jews consider life one of the supreme values and believe that one has to use every available means to save a life.
Posted by Adin Steinsaltz, on May 27, 2009 5:53 PM
Save the Child First
I am glad Daniel Hauser is back home and will get the chemotherapy he needs to stay alive. And I am sure God is OK with it. I would rather risk going against the tenets of my faith and going to hell than let my child die.
Posted by Susan K. Smith, on May 27, 2009 1:45 PM
Prejudging Spiritual Healing
To pronounce all of spiritual healing to be dangerous and ineffective without a fair and impartial examination is the very definition of prejudice. And doesn't that lead us away from what is truly best for children?
Posted by Phil Davis, on May 26, 2009 3:33 PM
Holy Healing is Genuine Healing
As someone who has survived cancer, I am enormously grateful for the skill of doctors and for my tradition in encouraging that healing art. I prayed, but I did not and would not rely on prayer. It is bad theology, and when done for someone else in place of treating them, it is the cruelty born of credulity or of simple ignorance.
Posted by David Wolpe, on May 26, 2009 11:21 AM
What About the Child?
In these cases I advise what the great Reformer Martin Luther advised -- take your medicine and put your trust in God. For parents, this means to give your child the best care that modern medicine can offer, and to entrust your precious child to God and to God alone.
Posted by R. Albert Mohler Jr., on May 26, 2009 9:52 AM
Save the Child, Born and Unborn
It's too bad the government wants to intervene only on the behalf of the life of an already-born child and sees no role in protecting the life of the innocent unborn.
Posted by Cal Thomas, on May 26, 2009 9:25 AM
Child Sacrifice Persists, and We're All Complicit
Child sacrifice should horrify us. But the fact that it still exists, and is making headlines in a number of states, should not really surprise us.
Posted by Brad Hirschfield, on May 25, 2009 9:27 AM
Neglect in the Name of Love
Since our secular government must be neutral regarding religion, what we deem parental abuse should be independent of whether that abuse is for religious or secular reasons.
Posted by Herb Silverman, on May 23, 2009 12:40 PM
Child-Abuse: Who Owns the Children?
Faith or medicine is a false either/or that needs the corrective of both-and. Medicine without faith is weaker than it can be, and faith without medicine is sometimes fatal.
Posted by Willis E. Elliott, on May 23, 2009 11:27 AM
Murder by Faith? A Tale of Two Worldviews
I doubt that any sensible person would sanction withholding medical treatment for a sick child because of his parents' religious beliefs, especially when it's a case of life and death.
Posted by Deepak Chopra, on May 22, 2009 9:46 PM
When Religion Becomes Child Abuse
In life-threatening situations, parents should not be permitted to withhold established, non-experimental medical treatment from their children for any reason--including but not limited to religious reasons.
Posted by Susan Jacoby, on May 22, 2009 3:30 PM
Save & Share:
katesgram: This is very difficult. If you have watched someone go through Chemo, then how can you say that that is not child abuse? Some side effects ...
kert1: I have mixed feelings about this situation because it is dealing with 2 issues that are very important to me and probably most Americans: Fr...
daniel12: Medicine is probably one of the most important disciplines calling into question, specifically, divine intervention in human affairs. Certai...
