My Zen Arcade

From StreetProphets

I don’t know what I find the most tragic aspect of this case to be.  That a child suffered and died a needless death.  That the parents of the child had such a narrow and distorted faith that their actions led to that death.  That those same parents now face charges and jail time on top of the anguish they must be feeling.  That there are three children without a sister and possibly without their parents.

This is what I was talking about.  Because these people did it in the name of faith, somehow it is tragic that they may be sent to jail for bringing about the death of their daughter.  If the parents had said, instead, that fighting off the condition on her own would make her stronger (an equally crazy viewpoint), there wouldn’t be one drop of sympathy.  Or if they’d done it because they just hate doctors, or distrust medicine for some other reason. 

I do feel bad that the other children are going to be seperated from their parents, however that increases their chances of survival markedly.

Religion should not be an excuse, should not be a ‘get out of jail free’ card.

They’ll almost certainly get away with it too.  All the defense has to do is convince one person on the jury that if we require people to be responsible for their actions taken in the name of religion then religious freedom will vanish.

All that has to happen is for one person to realize that they too might be held accountable.

All that has to happen is for one person to understand that they will no longer have a free pass because of ‘faith’. 

Thats all.

How hard could that be?

Deep down inside, I know that Madeline’s death is our fault as a nation.  We let them get away with it.  We refuse to ever question anything about religious beliefs (unless you are a scientologist…).

And, because of that, people continue to act without rational justification and we continue to say its OK. 

We continue to act as if faith in magic is a good thing to be praised.  We continue to let people make policy based on this magic and never question them or force them to back up their beliefs.  Perhaps if we didn’t, then someone would have felt free to call an ambulance, or the police.  But they didn’t.  And it isn’t surprising.

We don’t just grant freedom of religion (which is a good thing) but we give it complete and utter immunity.  No other freedom comes close to this.  Not speach, not bearing arms, not press.

Only religion can’t be questioned.

We killed that little girl.

Its OK, we killed our daughter because of our religion.  Shouldn’t we get a free pass?

A day before Madeline died, according to the criminal complaint, the father wrote an e-mail with the headline, “Help our daughter needs emergency prayer!!!!.” It said his daughter was “very weak and pale at the moment with hardly any strength.”

Fuck you.

Well, the other 3 kids have been removed from the Neumann home during the investigation.  What keeps coming up is how there wasn’t any ‘intent’ on the parents part.  They honestly thought they were doing the right thing.

Parents who physically abuse their children often say the same.  ‘They had to learn a lesson’ or ‘my parents did the same to me’. 

Maybe these people shouldn’t go to jail.

They should be committed to a psychiatric hospital and never have their kids back.

They called their church the night before

On the night before 11-year-old Madeline Kara Neumann died of complications from untreated diabetes, her parents did not call a doctor. Instead, Dale and Leilani Neumann prayed over the telephone Saturday with the founder of a religious Web site named americaslastdays.com

So lets make sure the record is straight. She was very sick. The parents knew she was. Experts say she’d probably been getting sicker and sicker for a month.
The parents knew it was bad.
So they prayed instead of getting her medical attention.
Criminal.
Child abuse.
Schitzophrenia.

One Higher Power: Why does the media only cover when prayer goes wrong

Where is the ABC News report of the higher power saving my grandfather’s life from a diabetic episode based on a “hunch” - a “still, small voice” my uncle heard and heeded?

Well, first off, the media often does these kind of human interest stories, so lets not act all oppressed.
Second, I’m sorry, exactly how is this comparable to a little girl being murdered by her parent’s craziness?
Third, does it not strike you as, perhaps, contradictory that god saved your grandfather but not this little girl?
Oh, wait, perhaps neither event is related to god whatsoever!
W00t!
A breakthrough!

Yeah, why aren’t they covering all sides of everything?
A kid drinks drano and dies.
Why doesn’t the media show how well draino unclogged my pipes?
A person dies in a car accident.
Why doesn’t the media cover everyone who walks away from an accident?

Look, you can have your crazy. Thats your business, so long as you don’t push your crazy on others.
But lets not expect the media to go covering all your ‘miracles’.
(oh, and for the record, the media gives a free ride to religion, as a rule…but when it kills someone, well, it has to be called to task.)

Again, we take kids away from parents all the time. But if ‘god’ or ‘faith’ enter into it, they are untouchable.
Wisconsin’s faith-based healing law

Peters is referring to state statute 948.03(6), against failing to act to protect children from bodily harm. It contains an exemption for what it refers to as ” Treatment through prayer.” To wit: “A person is not guilty of an offense under this section solely because he or she provides a child with treatment by spiritual means through prayer alone for healing in accordance with the religious method of healing … in lieu of medical or surgical treatment.”

911 call. Aunt knew child was very sick. Parents must have.
A couple of people have said that, if they parents didn’t know how sick Kara was, they aren’t really responsible. I believe that, by the time the Aunt was calling, the girl MUST have been very sick for days.

Parents: Its OK, so long as you really believe

It’s important not to be moralistic or pass judgment on parents who think they can heal a child through prayer, said Dr. Norman Fost, professor of bioethics and pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin Medical School in Madison.
“They believe they’re helping their child; they love their child, and they believe prayer has an effect,” Fost said.