« Supporting Liberal Radio | Main | Prof. Gates - racial profiling or abuse of police power? Updated »

July 21, 2009

When God Doesn't Want To Heal Your Kid

I was gobstopped when I heard that the jury on the Worthingon case was, in its own description, hung.

I'd hoped we'd gotten past this sort of thing by now, this thing that forces us to somehow give anything a pass because it's "part of my religion, and you therefore have no right to call me for utter ridiculousness".

Just like many of you, I will be honest and admit that what knowledge I have is derived from the media. But just as you can smell smoke in the woods and know the expectation that a fire nearby is not an unreasonable thing to think, there are some conclusions that reasonable people can draw from what they've seen so far.

One I draw is arrogance. They insist, repeatedly, that this child was getting better, even as she was close to expiring. This defense continues to be mounted even in the face of responsible medical testimony that asserts that if they'd just let one doctor see the child she might have had a chance. This is not humility. This is pig-stubborness, and it's masquerading as pious submission. And since people don't want to criticize religious thought, they tend to buy into it.

Another point that sticks with me is what this says about the worshipper. I've gone on at length, in this and other places, about Frank Herbert's game-changing SF novel Dune, because I think it teaches a needful lesson about what happens when we allow religion and governing to collide in hopes that the product will be better. This lead me to the parody version of it: National Lampoon's DOON, which is amazingly insightful despite it's comedic tone. In it, when our main character sees his main chance at a return to power through religion, he self-makes the observation that What could be better than religion? It's the only industry in which the user blames themselves for product failure.

To wit: if a system of worship accepts faith-healing and the efficacy of such faith-healing (in my view) is in some proportion to the quality and perfection of the faith and worship of the follower – well, what does that say about the worshipper?

Doesn't it suggest that God deemed the worshipper insufficiently perfect and pious to be deserving of the health and fitness of the child? And does't that suggest that there's something desperately wrong with the brand of Christianity that they've chosen?

And doesn't the fact that early Christians in fact, had little or no argument with the practice of medicine matter? Well, to be honest, probably not to them.

If you're trying to pray your kid well, they die anyway, and you continue to assert that you saw nothing wrong, then I submit to you that you picked the wrong spiritual pony, Tex. Should you be punished for it? You should be held accountable, but I don't know how. We have a legal system that's struggling to provide an answer right now, complete with jurors – some of whom, maybe – who may think that the unnecessary death of a child is still trumped by the right of their parents to believe in any way they choose.

The practices of modern Christians have largely killed my enthusiasm for religion. Still, I don't necessarily begrudge my friends and neighbors the wish to have a religious practice.

But I personally refuse to give anyone a pass if their religion prevents them from calling in help – that God maybe provided so that your child didn't have to die.

If you choose to believe in God, then I believe that God just maybe provided us doctors as well, so we could live as long as possible with our loved ones – which God also provided.

But I'm a disillusioned Catholic. What could I possibly know?

Posted by The Chinuk at July 21, 2009 12:48 PM