ProPublica: Children died after parents chose faith healing in Idaho
NEW: For decades, Idaho laws have allowed parents who belong to the Followers of Christ and other faith-healing sects to pray rather than seek medical treatment as their children die. At least five sets of parents have lost multiple children.
bdyguy.bsky.social110Another example of the dangers of non critical thinking.
pjkool.bsky.social98Over our history, Christians have done more damage to American society than any other religion.
Susannah R73Parents who deny their children proper medical treatment should be charged with manslaughter and criminal child neglect if they choose prayer as their treatment modality or withhold vaccines & their kids die. Parents should not possess the legal right to dispose of their living children in this way.
[email protected]42What happened to “Pro Life”
Miaganga24In Oregon we had a few pray them ‘well, kids died, parents got arrested. Christian Scientists - diff from Scientology- it’s murder
llamagogo.bsky.social22They are praying for their children to get well.. their prayers were answered by God who bestowed the intellect on others that we call scientists and doctors.. they are refusing God’s answer
Mark Sumner 🌒18This is simply murder authorized by a “pro-life” state that regards children as disposable property.
Mere Smith5sounds like those parents are just feeding their children to god
Maggie McNeill3This has been a controversy in the US at least since the 1960s; I've seen plenty of TV dramas from the period where doctors tangle with these folks.
חיינה אדל2These were preventable deaths... I found this so sad...
NotAllFunnyAndGames2You know, I used to feel sorry for stupid Americans.
If you are a sick adult and you don’t seek medical help because of your religion, that is called stupidity. If you are a parent and you don’t seek medical help for your sick child because of your religion, that is called homicide.
Mrs. Betty Bowers320UNFUN FACT: Religious extremists who deny medical help to a dying child will tell you they are “pro-life.”
Pris15religious freaks can murder living children but they want to jail and execute women who have abortions or miscarriages
Joanne💋💙🌈 🇨🇦🤝🇺🇸13If praying worked there would be no wars, school shootings or famine. Save your useless prayers. Im so sick of these christofascist extremists shoving their beliefs on the world. Educate yourself beyond your church ffs. 🤬
Melissa Jo Peltier12Weren’t there Christian Science cases in the 60’s & 70’s that created child protective laws around this very issue?
Steve10Hmmmm, I *could* save my dying child, but if I do my "friends" won't like me anymore... I'm not sure what to do.
SHRED8Can these parents be held accountable legally for child endangerment?
Mark Thompson4Freedom to kill children is a pretty fucking stupid principle to stand on.
Prof Caroline Mala Corbin2There should be no religious exemptions from child neglect laws when parents' refusal to seek medical care seriously harms their child. Neither the right to control the upbringing of your child nor your religion should be able to trump your child's safety.
newmexicanextexan.bsky.social2Fun fact: A couple of President Nixon's top aides were Christian Scientists, who object to modern medicine on theological grounds, & they pushed him to write religious exemptions for parents who medically neglect their children into federal law.
Super disturbing. Almost every year since 2015, Idaho children in a faith-healing sect have died of treatable conditions such as pneumonia and bacterial infections that turned to sepsis. The state just lets it happen. @audreydutton.bsky.social
Noreen Dalton 🌱🍉8And mothers in the developing world would give their right arm for the access to medicine that these people just throw away 🙈🥺
paul-NewEngland5Idaho is mid paleolithic (about 1 million yrs before present).
Carol D5I guarantee you any non-Christian sect doing the exact same thing would be hounded into oblivion.
BillThePony4It's even worse than just letting it happen... Conservatives actively encourage this. Part of the right-wing rewrite of the Constitution has been to elevate the "free exercise" of religion Blocking and declaring unconditional any limits on what a christian says is their free exercise
CascadiaCoug3Yet they will charge a doctor for a life saving abortion
GADFLY: the Practical Heretic2Don't worry, that's going to spread under MAGA.
Oisín McGann20Fuck every parent who does this, they don't deserve children. They deserve to go to prison. And fuck any religion that believes you shouldn't do everything you can to protect your kids. I hope your hell is waiting for you.
tachi5Well past the point of all that being child abuse, right up to the state level.
Nathan S. French2There are *so many* states with these religious shield laws and my 101 students are often genuinely surprised to know it.
As people in uniform ask Malachi’s parents about his birth, death and the two days in between, members of the family’s church watch from folding chairs. People come and go from the bedroom; one woman cradles a sleeping toddler. In other Idaho households, his death would be investigated as a crime.
Michael D12Thank you for covering this. Especially in light of the crusade against trans kids and their parents, this reality really pisses me off.
Josh Hutchinson 🥄2It's a religious exemption for murder
No_ID_Lady2Thank you, Audrey, for your sensitive & 💔 reporting. It never EVER gets easier to read about these continuing tragic & preventable infant & child deaths, but it's so important 😢
Anita Ridlehoover2Great reporting, thank you! So sad.
shockeddaily.bsky.social2Idaho seems to care more about fetuses than about those who moved on to other stages of development.
Fright Merkin1This is why I like to think of myself as a citizen of Boise rather than Idaho.
His Bark Materials🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈🌌73It remains utterly incomprehensible to me that US states allow parents to kill their children through negligence out of religious conviction.
Christopher Farnsworth22This is a radical proposition where I grew up, but: children are not property, and your religion shouldn’t give you the right to kill anyone, by neglect or otherwise.
Idaho Prison Project6Important piece making so many points (mainly that parents should seek medical care for their children). A reminder that "crime" is often political, not a measure of right and wrong.
Suzanne Cummins4"Death After Death: Almost every year since 2015, Idaho children in a faith-healing sect have died of treatable conditions such as pneumonia and bacterial infections that turned to sepsis."
Immanuel Cunt3That’s it I’m becoming a state atheism guy.
eli shroom's altered ego3tired of this fuckass country where people can have religious exemptions to let their children die slow and horrific deaths, but others get targeted as child abusers for supporting their trans children.
No_ID_Lady2💔 & OUTSTANDING reporting. It never EVER gets easier to read about these tragic & preventable infant & child deaths, but because I'm actually PRO-CHILD & don't just pretend to be like the #Idaho #GOP #idleg, I do read. And cry. And hope & RAGE that maybe the #idleg will finally act next session.
“It isn’t necessarily that we’re supposed to have a joyous life here. It’s actually quite the opposite.” -Faith leader Nathan Kangas of Idaho, explaining why he thinks it’s okay for kids to die from treatable diseases when their parents reject medical care for “religious” reasons.
Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD60Idaho has gone full “medical freedom” and these are the results. And it’s not confined to this cult. 17.5% of Idaho kindergarteners had a vaccine exemption last year, so the state is a simmering cauldron of infectious disease.
Cate Sheehan12This is why I think all religious beliefs are a low-key form of mental illness.
EARNED MY SPURS & UNABLE TO CURB MY CUSSING 🐎11Going out on a limb and guessing this 'faith leader' lives in a massive home paid for by his followers.
André Sobolewski9It is not an act of love to let someone die that could easily have been saved: it is an act of ideological cruelty.
The Canoe🇨🇦8American religion is a product we definitely want to pass on up here in the Great White North. It seems to be very bad for your health.
Alex Marten 🇧🇷🇺🇸🇺🇦🇸🇾🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️5This is why I'm a condemned atheist. I live by science alone.
“Medical freedom” doesn’t free you from consequences of your decisions. Prayers do not work when you deny the solution in front of you. 🧪 www.propublica.org/article/fait...
Susie Time3The Republicans want to kill as many people as possible
RoseMarie3Someone must stand up for those kids. In this instance, parental rights be damned.
figmo1Oh, then but it must have been "God's will", right? What better illustration of self-righteous hypocrisy! They should be charged with manslaughter! That innocent newborn is DEAD because of their refusal to avail themselves of known (or probable) steps that would have permitted that child to live!
Dave.1What a sad waste of life. There should be a test to qualify to be a parent.
