On what had to be one of the most disheartening media appearances I've ever made -- in terms of my usual shtick as an author and commentator -- I was just on Court TV yesterday. Court TV was fine. The case we were talking about made me want to throw up.
I was commentating on Oregon v. Carl and Raylene Worthington, involving Christian fundamentalist parents who refused to give their child medical care on the basis of their trust in faith healing. (I was invited because as a former Religious Right leader -- long since departed from that shadow land -- they thought I'd bring an "inside" perspective.)
The Worthington's fifteen-month-old little girl died (of something easily treatable) surrounded by her parents and other members of their congregation praying for healing. No one called 911. As far as I'm concerned they used their daughter the way Islamic suicide bombers sometimes use children to carry their bombs.
When right-wing evangelical Christians say they fear government death panels and a "takeover of medicine" by the federal government it seems strange to me that what they fear the federal government might do would be to save people like this child's life. So much for the "pro-life" community.
I just wish the government really would take over health care, and for that matter remove children from any family that is crazy enough to deny care to a minor. And while they're at it they should curb the rights of redneck loons to carry loaded weapons into public meetings.
In fact it's time to roll back the extremes of freedom in freedom's name.
The religious right, the gun-carrying paranoids all have one thing in common: they are taking a libertarian/religious view to an extreme that will unhinge this country. It's time to make certain types of freedom a dirty word.
Here's the case as it was laid out for me by the folks at Court TV:
Carl and Raylene Worthington are lifelong members of Followers of Christ, a controversial religious group which doesn't believe in using medical doctors. (Children have died in this group before who needed medical care.) On March 2, 2008, their 15-month-old daughter Ava died at home after she developed pneumonia. The Worthingtons were indicted by a grand jury for not providing adequate medical care.
On Sunday, March 2, 2008, 15-month-old Ava Worthington took her last breath at approximately 7:15 p.m. as her parents, Carl and Raylene Worthington, along with a host of members of the Followers of Christ Church, prayed for her recovery.
The "healing," which took approximately 45 minutes, began sometime near 6:00 p.m. According to the Worthingtons and church members a short time later, (estimates range from 15-30 minutes), Ava died in the master bedroom of the family home. Following church practices, the infant was anointed and the county medical examiner's office was called to report the death.
In July of 2009, Clackamas County Circuit Judge Steven Maurer announced the verdicts in the trial of Carl and Raylene Worthington. They both faced manslaughter and criminal mistreatment charges. Raylene Worthington was acquitted of both charges; Carl Worthington was convicted of a criminal mistreatment charge.
How can this happen in America?
Make no mistake about it, there is a scarily large subculture within our society that, in terms of its "life values," is utterly hypocritical. At the recent so-called Values Voter Summit (September 22, 2009) held by the top Republicans and their Religious Right supporters where were the protests against bad parenting where crimes are committed in the name of God?
Where were the speeches against gun-toting nuts?
Nowhere.
Because the Religious Right is not religious or conservative: they are nihilists. Call 911 for that child? No! Arrest someone for carrying a loaded weapon to a presidential meeting place? Don't tread on me! I have rights!
Every day the "family values" religious extremest chip away at actual family values, and not just when they're letting little children die of neglect in the name of God. The evangelical/fundamentalist America within the ordinary everyday decent caring America is largely responsible for banning, effectively curtailing or harassing and minimizing effective sex education in our schools. This leads directly to a far higher incidence of abortion. This same group has now turned its collective will against reforming our health care system in a way that would give women and children an opportunity to have access to family care that would not just reduce the incidence of abortion but the incidence of mortality in everything from childhood diabetes to lacking prenatal care.
If ever a case pointed to the fact that we need government intervention in the curtailing of our insane levels of "religious freedom" the Worthington case is a perfect example.
It's time that all American children "belonging" to fundamentalist extremists come under the care of the state. It's time that all children are guaranteed an education wherein they will be taught facts rather than religious mythology. It is time to look at child-hurting homeschoolers and demand a curriculum that is fact-based.
With the Republican Party in the grip of the Religious Right it did everything in its power to turn the case of Terri Schiavo into a circus fraught with political "family values" overtones. Where were they as baby Worthington died -- killed by faith in God?
Thousands of children in this country are raised in everything from polygamous child-abusing religious communes to homes where medical care is denied because of "religious freedom." Tens of thousands more are beaten according to the teachings of James Dobson and his pro-corporal punishment child-intimidation manuals. Where is the law?
Religious freedom means freedom to worship in the Church of your choosing and -- after your're 18 -- to believe anything you want. Before you're 18, society should protect you. Freedom in the hands of fools is becoming a dirty word. It is time to reconnect with reality and real family values, free from abusive religion.
em>Frank Schaeffer is the author of Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back and the forthcoming Patience With God: Faith For People Who Don't Like Religion (Or Atheism)
Follow Frank Schaeffer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/frank_schaeffer
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Kirk Cameron seems like a really nice guy. Unfortunately, the Artist Formerly Known as Mike Seaver seems like a really nice guy who's evolved into a willfully ignorant idiot.
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Just as the majority of people no longer accept the idea of a flat earth, the time has come to credit Darwin's discovery by finally rejecting the notion that faith is equivalent to data.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Followers_of_Christ
Legally, the case is trickier than you might think, because of the prominence of religious freedom in the First Amendment. When people's lives are at stake, however, especially the lives of children, then the state must step in.
One was convicted ...criminal mistreatment charge. Before condemning the verdict, I always find it wise to look at the evidence presented to the Jury.
AMEN to that! I don't see how, though, without infringing on the religious rights of others, that measures can be taken to prevent such a tragedy happening again. Perhaps neighbors can get to know who lives next to them, so these deceived folks can perhaps be converted out of that type of religious thinking. I am a Christian, but I am not one that doesn't believe in medicine. God gave us the knowledge to have some of the most skilled doctors in the world.
The comment you made Mr. Schaeffer --"It's time that all American children belonging to fundamentalist extremists come under the care of the state." just shows all the more why the right is justified in their concerns and comments about the left. I do want to see children get medical care, but your comment has a much broader reach. You want the government to be in control of everything: healthcare, school, children. I believe you may be a closet "global governance" guy and of course the goal with those people is to control every single aspect of our lives, even to get rid of property rights eventually, otherwise a global leader can't control the world unless he has a tight rein on everything. Yeah you seem to have a definite direction you want to take this country--away from freedom.
I agree with much of what you write. However, I would encourage you to rethink the following statement:
"In fact it's time to roll back the extremes of freedom in freedom's name."
People often use freedom thoughtlessly. Freedom means without limits. Freedom means people can do whatever they want. Given the clear, straightforward meaning of freedom, it is obvious that people are not free.
It is impossible for us to be free. Even without a functioning government, people are not free. Anarchy is not freedom because people always place limits on those around them. As a trivial example, we cannot simultaneously occupy the same space. More importantly, even without government, we want others to be honest, trustworthy, peaceful, etc. We favor people who treat us as we wish and seek to avoid or punish those who don't act the way we want. People are not free to act as they wish when they are in society.
We must live within limits. That fact is what makes democracy the best form of government. Since we must live within limits, at least we should be able to participate in deciding what those limits are. We hate rules that are imposed on us. However, if we at least have a chance to voice our opposition and, more importantly, an opportunity to collectively change the rules, then we are more likely to tolerate the rules that others favor. Democracy is a way of selecting limits. Democracy is not freedom.
Have faith ... but not too much faith?
Belief in a supernatural being is only unreasonable ... if you really depend on it.
Believe the Buybull ... but not ALL of it.
Moderation in all things ... including sanity.
Yes, religion 'lite' ..... that's the way to go ..... unless you're one of the other kinds of extremists ..... who don't believe in myths at all!
To quote a character from a book by Stieg Larsson, leading expert on antidemocratic right-wing extremist and Nazi organizations: "Isn't it fascinating that Nazis always manage to adopt the word 'freedom'?"
As far as education is concerned, you fail to understand the requirements of home schooling.
Children who are home schooled are tested and must meet certain academic standards. This is sufficient. Telling a parent that they can only teach their children certain things and may not teach them other things is going too far. Again you seem to be proposing that the government take on additional duties of thought police.
Yes, freedom can be a dirty word. When that freedom is abused such that third parties are injured, especially children, the law can and should intervene. However, what you seem to be advocating is a preemptive strike, to control the beliefs of individuals... I hope that is not the case.
And what does guns have to do with this?
Stereotyping. They see everyone who owns a firearm as a religious right wing tea-bagger birther nut case.
Since I happen to share certain phylogenetic traits with the President, and since I happen to be part of a group (gays and lesbians) who are blamed for all manner of things that have gone wrong in America, and since the people on the other side have made it very clear that they 'didn't bring their guns (this time)", I don't want to be the only person standing around without a firearm should they decide that D.C. is too far a trek and that the local liberals (who, remember, are fascist/terrorist) will have to do.
Cheers
LF
Agree.
DAVIDMORSE wrote: "They don't have the right to teach that belief as if it were a scientific fact. "
Disagree. If they homeschool, they have an obligation to teach the required curriculam... Assuming of course a religiously neutral one which is required of all students. Beyond that, they have the perfect right to teach them whatever else they may wish to teach them and the government may not censor this.
DAVIDMORSE wrote: "We all could learn someting from the Amish."
Agree.
Wow... who decides whether a religious group is "fundamentalist extremists"? Do we establish a panel to determine what religious sects are ok and which are not? Perhaps approved religions can be licensed by the state based upon dogma and those that are not politically correct are banned? That is an extremely dangerous step because the government becomes arbiters of belief.
That is not to say what the law under which the Worthington's were tried is wrong. I whole heartedly endorse such laws. An adult has the right to believe what they wish to believe, but that right does not extend to placing their children at risk from physical harm. If a parent fails to obtain proper medical treatment for their children they should be punished and their children should be removed from their care.
Continued....
Indeed. With this single statement, Frank shines a harsh, bright light on the utter hypocrisy of the religious right. They will use anything and anyone, including their own children, in pursuit of their fundamentalist goals: to turn our government into a theocracy. This is EXACTLY the same goal of the Muslim extremists in the Middle East. Our Christian fundamentalists are EXACTLY the same as the jihad-fomenting terrorists. Let's stop fighting the ones over there and start fighting the ones HERE.
others, one set of rules for citizens, different set of rules for school teachers,
professional atheletes, celebrities and politicians. The TRUTH is that school children
are treated differently in our great nation based on where they live. A middle school
student in Texas DIED by having his chest crushed when his teacher sat on him, a Texas high school student suffered deep bruising and welts to his lower back,
buttocks and back of his legs when he received 21 "licks" with a wooden canoe
paddle, which broke and had to be taped to continue the beating, a 9-
year-old Georgia 3rd grader suffered deep bruising injuries when he was paddled with a
wooden paddle 3 TIMES IN ONE DAY (Decatur Co. Schools, GA AFFIRMED Corporal Punishment Policy 9/17/09) and a Publicly Funded Charter School in Memphis, TN
physically punishes middle/high school boys/GIRLS weekly during a ceremony called
"Chapel" by hitting them with wooden paddles and/or whipping their hands with
leather straps IN FRONT OF ALL THE OTHER STUDENTS AS A DETERRENT! The school employees in the above actions have LEGAL
IMMUNITY and are STILL paid by our tax-dollars to be ENTRUSTED with the care and
education of our children!
U.S. Congress is holding hearings on Abusive and DEADLY practices in schools and MUST ABOLISH Physical/Corporal Punishment of All Children in All Schools NATIONWIDE, already ILLEGAL IN SCHOOLS IN 30 STATES!