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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Bible isn’t a parenting guide: Why the religious right’s hypocrisy is so obscene
Why do the same people who fight against abortion argue that parents should have the right to beat their children and deny them medical care or education, as some conservative Republicans have done recently? How can someone oppose family planning because a pill or IUD might have the rare and unintended consequence of interfering with implantation, and then endorse beating a child, which might have the rare and unintended consequence of battering her to death?
These two positions fit together seamlessly only when we understand the Iron Age view of the child imbedded throughout the Bible, and how that view has shaped the priorities and behavior of biblical literalists.
Extreme Biblical Parenting
In 2014, Pentecostal parents Herbert and Catherine Schaible went to jail after a second of their nine children died from easily treatable bacterial pneumonia. The Schaibles belong to a sect that relies on prayer for physical as well as spiritual healing. In a police statement, Herbert Schiable explained that medicine is against our religious beliefs. Sects like their point to the New Testament books of Matthew and Mark, which both say that devout believers can pray for anything in faith and God will grant their request (Mark 11:24 and Matthew 21:22). All that is required, according to the writer of Matthew, is faith the size of a tiny mustard seed. The Schaibles pastor blamed the deaths of the two children on a spiritual lack in the parents.
The Schaible case is a chilling example of how these laws work. In 2009, the Schaibles two year old son, Kent, died of pneumonia after having his illness treated by prayer alone. Under Pennsylvanias faith-healing exemption both parents were allowed to plead guilty to lesser charges. The result was a sentence of probation; and after agreeing to seek medical care for their children in future, the Schaibles were allowed to keep custody of their other kids. But In 2014 the Grim Reaper struck again in the form of another untreated infection. This time, the couple was jailed after 8 month old Brandon died. The parents were sent to prison, not for killing a child, but for violating the terms of their earlier probation.
Republicans Double Down on Protecting Parents over Children
In spite of similar tragedies around the country, legislators in multiple states are looking to expand laws that exempt parents like the Schaibles from criminal charges. Georgia recently introduced legislation that appears to offer legal cover to parents who beat their children (and men who beat their wives) for religious reasons. In Idaho, despite more than a dozen child deaths linked to one small sect called the Followers of Christ, Republican state legislators introduced a bill in February granting parents broader leeway to harm childrenas long as their motives are religious. The bill secures faith healing exemptions from medical neglect laws; reduces the courts power to protect abused children; discourages doctors and teachers from reporting suspected abuse; and excuses religious parents from education requirements that otherwise apply to Idaho residents. On March 23, 2015, it passed the Idaho Senate 27-7, along straight party lines.
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http://www.salon.com/2015/03/29/the_bible_isnt_a_parenting_guide_why_the_religious_rights_hypocrisy_is_so_obscene_partner/
bvf
(6,604 posts)Arkansas Granny
(31,536 posts)NaturalHigh
(12,778 posts)don't we have a religion group for this?
Bjorn Against
(12,041 posts)DU has always allowed posts about the ways the religious right tries to influence our laws in GD. Theological discussions are for the religion group but the OP is not about theology as much as it is about law.
ileus
(15,396 posts)Their kids get sick they go to a doc.
I don't even know any religious group in this area that shuns medical services...and that includes our local Amish.
Anyone no seeking treatment for a child needs a good grinding up in the court system. Anyone harming a child needs an equally good grinding by the DA.
bullwinkle428
(20,631 posts)was tied directly to their parents' refusal to seek medical services for their kids once they got sick, based on religious beliefs.
http://6abc.com/health/1991-the-philly-measles-outbreak-that-killed-9-children-/504818/