Should parents who pray their children to death be exempt from the law?

The state of Wisconsin has a law that exempts parents who pray their children to death from prosecution for child neglect and abuse.

Christian Scientists in Wisconsin want to revise the law in order to exempt their faith-healing practices, too.


The parents of the late Madelina Kara Neumann are not members of any organized religion nor are they members of a church. But they "believe" the Bible, by God, and God says he's the source of healing.

So, "naturally," when their daughter, a diabetic, became sick last Spring, they did not take her to a doctor like normal parents, but rather they prayed. For weeks. Then little Madeline died - of treatable diabetes.

Dale and Leilani, though, weren't all that worried. They figured she would be resurrected.

Dale and Leilani Neumann were charged with second-degree manslaughter. I am not sure as to the disposition of their case at this time.


Wisconsin does have a law dealing with child neglect and abuse. Unfortunately, the Wisconsin wackos who put this law together ensured it contained a provision exempting those engaged in faith-healing practices.

State legislators are looking at revising that law, and members of the Christian Science Church are just too eager to help. That's not a good thing. Christian Science believes that everything is Spirit and matter is an illusion; thus it denies the reality of sickness and death.

The state judiciary committee has been working with one Joe Farkas, a lobbyist for the Christian Science Church, to develop a bill that would cover Christian Scientist concerns. A legislative staff member said, "We're working on legislation that would clarify the statute to protect the civil right to prayer and healing and protect children."

This legislation would, said Eric Peterson, get rid of the current exemption for faith healing. In it's place, the new law would "create a legal mechanism known as an 'affirmative defense' that would require anyone attempting to use spiritual or faith healing as a legal defense to follow a "standard of medical care' that Peterson claimed had been established by the courts. The bill itself would provide no guidelines for what this standard of medical care would mean."

Sheesh!

No "standard of medical care" has been determined by the courts. All this new bill does is confuse the issue, which seems to be what the Christian Scientists want to do. The Christian Science Church, which, as a matter of policy practices "spiritual" healing, has lobbied, often with considerable success, to be exempted from the various state laws concerning neglect and abuse.

If the Neumann's spend a few years in jail, that would jeopardize the Christian Science position. No wonder they want to change the law.

The problem is that the change they are pushing for will not protect children, it will only protect the Christian Science Church.

Of course. Let us pray.


There's more here.