I’ve been meaning to write this piece for Slate for a while, but couldn’t get to it because of The Albatross. As it turns out, the piece, about the unconscionable exemptions from prosecution given to religious people when they injure their children by using faith “healing” instead of western medicine, deals with themes in the last chapter of FvF.

This is one of the more palpable dangers of faith, since it’s resulted in the deaths of hundreds (probably thousands) of children—not to mention adults.  And, as I’ve said before, it’s not just these benighted parents who are at fault, for the initial laws mandating religious exemptions were set up by the U.S. government in 1974 (it was a condition for states receiving money for child protection), so this is on us. It’s our responsibility to rescind these murderous laws. As CHILD (Children’s Healthcare is a Legal Duty, a wonderful organization that lobbies against religious exemptions from medical care and vaccination) notes:

In response to Christian Science church lobbying, the federal government began requiring states to enact religious exemptions from child abuse and neglect charges in 1974. CHILD founders Rita and Douglas Swan lobbied for several years against this regulation. The federal government rescinded it in 1983.

In 1996, however, Congress enacted a law stating that the federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) did not include “a Federal requirement that a parent or guardian provide a child any medical service or treatment against the religious beliefs of the parent or guardian.” 42 USC 5106i Furthermore, Sen. Dan Coats, R-Indiana, and Congressman Bill Goodling, R-Pennsylvania, claimed during floor discussion that parents have a First Amendment right to withhold medical care from children.

The exemptions also hold for vaccinations: 48 of the 50 U.S. states allow parents to let their children go unvaccinated for religious reasons. That’s a danger not just to the children, but to society at large.

Further, judges and juries tend to let off parents lightly because of respect for “faith” (you don’t get this kind of pass if you withhold medical care for nonreligious reasons), so there too more moderate believers are to blame. In FvF I tell the story of Ashley King, the 12-year-old daughter of Christian Scientists in Phoenix (a middle-class family), who died a horrible death from bone cancer because her parents refused to get her treatment. She died in agony after ineffectual prayers. (Had she been taken to a doctor early on, they estimate a 60% chance she could have been cured.) Ashley’s parents were let off with unsupervised probation.

Severe punishment for killing one’s children through faith healing is needed as a deterrent, because parents who get off lightly often allow subsequent children to die untreated. Remember, too, that “alternative medicine”, like homeopathy, is also a form of faith-healing, although (except for indigenous peoples in Canada), that’s doesn’t confer exemptions on parents who use it on their kids.

The rest of the information is in my new piece on Slate, “Faith healing kills children.” I feel strongly about this issue, as these deaths are totally preventable, so please share the information.

Also, don’t forget that although adults are allowed to refuse medical care because they’re presumed to be able to make “mature” decisions, many of these adults were inculcated in the faith when they were young, and so are forced into faith-healing because of early environmental influences.

I’ve looked only briefly at the comments on the Slate piece, but you might be amused or horrified at some people’s attacks on what is a very reasonable point. Some folks apparently want religious parents to be able to substitute prayer for medical care of their sick children. Their arguments are stunningly inane.