Liberality and Tolerance: The Twain Should Meet

I hop around several of the top blogs and, usually, a great time is being had by all. Some of the articles and comments are so funny, I find myself sitting alone at my computer laughing out loud. Looks a little off-center, but it all makes the day a little shorter. The other day, however, was different.

One of the articles being discussed was the shocking death of an 11-year old girl, whose fundamentalist-Christian parents prayed for her recovery, from what turned out to be a diabetic coma, for over a month while the poor child suffered and died. My first thought was that someone should just take the parents out and shoot them. I've got to admit that where the welfare of kids is involved, I have very little sympathy for caretakers who don't do their job. However, I was unprepared for the reaction of nearly all of the other posters. You see, in the estimation of most of those who cared to answer, it was solely the fault of religion. Period. 'Nough said. Done.

Though the parents did not belong to any organized religion, they had a small prayer and bible group and home-schooled their children. To a lot of the liberal and progressive community that sounds an alarm. Many don't understand the mindset that parents are totally in charge of their children and can make all decisions for them, educational, spiritual, and physical. Admittedly, I am a little sceptical of a parents right to total control such as this myself.

Some of the posters used this argument, and I think this is a topic worth discussion. Are children the property of their parents until they reach legal majority? Should parents be able to withhold medical treatment because they feel they have such a right? Where do the parents'religious beliefs come in? Can it take precedence over a child's right to proper health care?

Yet the argument that my fellow posters put forth most often was that religion was the cause of it all. Yep, religion sucks and is the cause of every ill in the world today. Over and over and over the posters said the same thing in different words.

My personal take on the loss of this child is that she died because of superstition and, well, stupidity. Not to put too fine a point on it, these folks really don't sound all that smart. Religious belief is not always grounded in superstition and blind faith. Media reports of incidents such as this and other similar tragedies makes it seem that there are a lot more of these fanatics than there actually are. Most parents, regardless of whether they study the bible or home school their child would have had that girl to a doctor, if not immediately, then certainly within a couple of days. Only the fringe of the fringe would have allowed such a thing to happen, or feel they had a right to experiment with their child's health and its relation to their faith in such a way. Blaming all religous people and all religion seems a tad harsh.

Why were these people choosing prayer? Was it because of their strong faith? Did they have a distrust of the outside world that kept them from seeking assistance? Did they have no health insurance? Did they live in one of the many rural counties in this country that has little or no access to doctors, so prayer was all they felt they had? We'll probably never know because stories like this one are like smoke...they fade quickly. On to some other story.

However, there should be some discussion of at least two of the basics in this story. Should the seeming neglect of a child's health be allowed as a relgious right? And should their obvious error indict all people of faith?

Many of my blogger friends would answer no to the first question and yes to the second. However, the vehemence of the attacks that were made on all things religous
in so many of the posts makes one wonder what type of "religious" experiences these poor people are trying to forget. I would suggest that they pray for the child and her family, but I'm guessing most would find my suggestion offensive.