Where Is the Line Between Church and State?
FYI: This is more of a legal question than a moral question.
I send this story out via my friends list to see what your opinions are because, to be honest, I'm really not sure how I feel about this:
An 11-year-old girl died after her parents prayed for healing rather than seek medical help for a treatable form of diabetes, police said Tuesday. Everest Metro Police Chief Dan Vergin said Madeline Neumann died Sunday.
“She got sicker and sicker until she was dead,” he said.
Vergin said an autopsy determined the girl died from diabetic ketoacidosis, an ailment that left her with too little insulin in her body, and she had probably been ill for about 30 days, suffering symptoms like nausea, vomiting, excessive thirst, loss of appetite and weakness. The girl’s parents, Dale and Leilani Neumann, attributed the death to “apparently they didn’t have enough faith,” the police chief said.
The family does not attend an organized church or participate in an organized religion, Vergin said. “They have a little Bible study of a few people.”
Rest of the story is here.
Is this negligent homicide? It fits the definition; should the parents then be brought up on charges? But what about the First Amendment? Surely this would become their defense if taken to trial; they honestly believed God would heal their daughter. Is that belief not in line with the free exercise of religion as laid out in the Bill of Rights?
I really don't know, but the story makes me very, very sad.
I send this story out via my friends list to see what your opinions are because, to be honest, I'm really not sure how I feel about this:
An 11-year-old girl died after her parents prayed for healing rather than seek medical help for a treatable form of diabetes, police said Tuesday. Everest Metro Police Chief Dan Vergin said Madeline Neumann died Sunday.
“She got sicker and sicker until she was dead,” he said.
Vergin said an autopsy determined the girl died from diabetic ketoacidosis, an ailment that left her with too little insulin in her body, and she had probably been ill for about 30 days, suffering symptoms like nausea, vomiting, excessive thirst, loss of appetite and weakness. The girl’s parents, Dale and Leilani Neumann, attributed the death to “apparently they didn’t have enough faith,” the police chief said.
The family does not attend an organized church or participate in an organized religion, Vergin said. “They have a little Bible study of a few people.”
Rest of the story is here.
Is this negligent homicide? It fits the definition; should the parents then be brought up on charges? But what about the First Amendment? Surely this would become their defense if taken to trial; they honestly believed God would heal their daughter. Is that belief not in line with the free exercise of religion as laid out in the Bill of Rights?
I really don't know, but the story makes me very, very sad.