Religion: Faith healing is on trial in Philadelphia. A Philadelphia couple is now on trial for the involuntary manslaughter of their two year old son. The couple allowed the boy to die while providing only prayer, rather than seeking medical attention.
Herbert and Catherine Schaible are members of a church that teaches members to forgo medical care in favor of prayer and faith healing. The couple's child, Kent Schaible, died in January 2009, from a pneumonia easily treatable with antibiotics.
When two year old Kent Schaible became ill with fever, cough, diarrhea, and loss of appetite, his parents did nothing for the child but pray while the child slowly and painfully wasted away. It took two weeks for Kent to die. At no time did the Schaible's seek medical attention for the suffering child.
There is no mandatory prison term for involuntary manslaughter, but the Schaibles each could face up to 24 years in prison if convicted.
Oregon is no stranger to faith healing on trial. In Oregon City, Oregon, the Followers of Christ church is notorious for allowing children to die. The cemetery is filled with dead children who died from treatable medical conditions. The Oregon state medical examiner's office reported that during the past 30 years more than 20 children of church members had died of preventable or curable illnesses.
Church members have a lengthy history of child deaths from lack of medical care. The deaths influenced a 1999 law eliminating the religious freedom defense in cases involving the welfare of a child.
The intellectual incompetence and moral failure that comes with a belief in faith healing is paradigmatic of the extreme depravity religious faith makes manifest. Poor Kent Schaible never had a chance. Surrounded by religious ignorance and superstition, raised by religious zealots lacking any moral compass, he was the victim of an atrocious absurdity.
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about dang time
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