A Literal Belief In The Bible Is Bad For Your Health?

[LazyGun]

A further example of what appears to be the needless death of a child because the parents believed that prayer would be sufficient to cure their children.

I find such a fundamentalist belief truly baffling - that you would put your child ren at risk for your faith. Its not as if they did not have evidence that this might happen. The same fate occurred to the child of another couple who were members of the same church.

http://www.koin.com/2013/08/29/albany-parents-held-in-daughters-death/

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/08/30/another-set-of-faith-healing-parents-arrested-after-allowing-their-daughter-to-die-of-a-treatable-disease/

[pixie373]

Yes, i too had reservations. I think that's human. The parents in the above post either believed prayer would work. Or that medical help wouldn't. Or both. As i said, i don't understand the mindset.

[pixie373]

Out of interest, and i apologise,lg, if it isn't relevant to your post - the child that died from measles, because the parents refused the MMR- should the parents be charged, too?

[naomi24]

MMR can be given as separate injections, but in the case of the 'faithful', it's that blind acceptance that I don't understand. To make a decision which results the death of a child for no rational reason - and accepting that loss without question - is beyond my comprehension. I would never forgive myself.

[jim360]

Those reservations are only not blind faith if they are changeable. And since the evidence already exists to show that such reservations have no basis in fact, continuing to hold them is, whatever you might think, a level of "blind faith" -- this time, the faith that your own observations are somehow more valid -- or perhaps, 'only' just as valid -- than those of pretty much the entire medical community, over hundreds of experiments, with many hundreds of thousands of test subjects.

To continue to hold reservations that fly in the face of such a large body of evidence is at best wrong. And for that matter, it's not totally unrelated either. There are many reports flying about that say, in a nutshell, that faith healing works. Two recent cases have come to my attention. A friend of my brother's who suffered from Coeliac disease and definitely manifested symptoms earlier in life at the slightest whiff of gluten, was apparently prayed for and afterwards is not able to down an entire plate of pasta without reacting at all. Separately I got an email from some friend's charity about a blind woman healed through the "power of faith". People could be forgiven for thinking, through these observations and many others, that they could have "reservations" about the idea that faith healing does not work, and might therefore be tempted to try the idea for themselves.

Actually, spontaneous remission of childhood Coeliac disease is not unknown, so the faith healing was most likely a coincidence, but the point is that if you place a lot of weight in personal experience and accounts from friends, etc., then you may well take seriously all sorts of things that turn out not to be even remotely true. And it is blind faith to do so, whether it be faith in the power of prayer, or faith in alternative medicines, or faith in alternative views of medicine.

[naomi24]

*in the death....

[LazyGun]

@Pixie no, its relevant.We do not know all the specific details of the case linked to in the OP - but the inference is that the daughter was suffering from Type 1 diabetes, so that is a disease that would have had many opportunities to get medical attention, to get the treatment required that could have prevented her death.Lack of the right care in type 1 diabetes would lead to death.

So in that sense, I think the parents are complicit in her death and should be charged accordingly. Other cases highlighted about faith healers and the death of their children have emphasized that it is for the death of a second child that they are being charged with culpable homicide, having previously been warend and sanctioned over their reckless lack of regard for their childrens health. Again, culpable homicide and should be charged for that, in my opinion.

An unvaccinated child dying of measles is not reason for charging the parent with culpable homicide, for several reasons; firstly because death is only rarely an outcome in measles, secondly because it is by no means certain that being unvaccinated automatically means that you will catch measles at all, and thirdly because even if you have been vaccinated, it is possible to still become infected with measles.

Add to that the complications surrounding the reasons why the child was unvaccinated and I think in those circumstances the death becomes a tragic accident rather than anything else.

[mibn2cweus]

pixie373
... Although i would say "thinking" is part of evolution
09:49 Sat 31st Aug 2013

Briefly, I would make a distinction between the capacity for thought with which we're born and the choice and knowledge of how to maximise that capacity. In a similar fashion, a computer is only as good as its programming.

[pixie373]

I think we're born with our thought processes and that they too have evolved, as physical height and strength has. But, yes, it does depend what you do with it.

[pixie373]

And lg, death from measles isn't all that uncommon, or long-term disability, hence the reason we vaccinate. It could be that the child would have not got measles, or had a milder case, if vaccinated. While i would be against compulsory vaccination, i think we also need to take some personal responsibility for our children, especially when we are aware of potential devastating effects. When the beliefs are religious, there is no excuse, but is ignorance in other areas really any better?

[Khandro]

In answer to the OP I would say, not only is a literal belief in the Bible (or Koran for that matter) bad for for your health, it is also bad for your mind, as this sad event demonstrates, but that doesn't entirely negate the value of religion as some would have you believe. Because these books may not be all literally true, it doesn't mean that there is no truth or worth to be found within them.

[atalanta]

How about this for a scenario: The Bible says "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live". The Pastor says your child is possessed by the devil and is therefore a witch, so you must beat him to get the devil out. In beating him you see no sign of the devil leaving him, so you go on beating until you kill him. Then you tell the police and the judge that you were only following your religion.
How many times has that happened ?

[woofgang]

A literal and unquestioning belief in anything is bad for you IMO

[Khandro]

^ //How many times has that happened ?// Dunno, tell us.

[pixie373]

Khandro, i accept your point that there may be some good and worth in the bible, but can you give one example of that, that only comes from the bible and not just common sense? How necessary is the bible, really, to tell us how to behave?

[Khandro]

pixie; It isn't at all necessary; there are lots of agencies wishing to tell you how to behave, the choice is yours.

[pixie373]

I agree:-)

[naomi24]

I'll pass on 'agencies' telling me how to behave.

[Khandro]

By the way; did anyone watch Simon Schama's 'The Story of the Jews' last night? - He demonstrated the strong feeling of Jewish 'identity' brought about by a combination of adherence to (some) of the Old Testament, and pragmatism.

[LazyGun]

I missed it, but i am going to try and catch it on iplayer/

[naomi24]

I've recorded it. Hopefully I'll watch it later today.