In 2009 Herbert and Catherine Schaible watched their helpless two year old son die of pneumonia. They didn't watch as emergency room doctors used their medical training and modern pharmaceuticals to try and save the boy, they couldn't because they never sought professional help. Instead, they prayed over the boy, asking God to heal him as he wasted away and succumbed to this treatable disease.
The Schaible's are members of the First Century Gospel Church of Philadelphia, PA. They perceive using medical aid as a lack of confidence in God. They believe in faith healing exclusively. If this was the first century I'd understand their ignorance and dependence on the supernatural, they'd have had few other choices. I cannot, I will not accept this as anything less than voluntary manslaughter. The courts agreed.
However, today the sentencing judge gave them a virtual pass. Instead of holding them accountable, emphatically establishing that society will not tolerate the death of a child who is at the mercy of his parents, the parents were given probation and made to promise they will seek medical help for their remaining seven children should they fall ill. Period.
What is the message this sentence sends? That if you have belief in a the god of Abraham as a healing agent then allowing a child to drown in his chest fluids who could have been saved isn't all that bad. Oh, it wasn't a good thing it's just not as bad as watching as your kid drown in a bathtub. So, go about your business; continue to think and act like a first century cultist; raise your kids in this archaic superstitious faith so they too may some day kill their kids with prayer. Go, and sin no more.
I wonder had it been a voodoo practicing family who depended on incantations, eye of newt, chants and magic smoke to heal and their child succumbed, would the judge have been so forgiving? I doubt it. One can only guess what would happen to an atheist who would watch a kid die while reciting from a Carl Sagan book: "That's right your honor, I put my confidence in Sagan's ability to heal my child ... problem?"
After their sentencing Mr. Schaible said this: "With God's help, this will never happen again." With god's help?! For Christ sake man ... it was the lack of help from your non-existent God that convinced you to kill your kid in the first place!! So much for any lessons learned by this sentence. http://www.kansascity.com/2011/02/02/2627109/philly-couple-who-prayed-over.html#ixzz1CwYzP8hj
This is 21st century America where the death of a child at the hands of their parents is treated like a first time shop lifting conviction just so long as you're Christian and sufficiently deluded. A pox on them, their church and that judge.
12 comments:
They should have taken the other children away. They are not fit to be parents. They are murderers. They should be imprisoned. The judge shoul be recalled/impeached/repremanded.
My feelings exactly.
Some people would say it's better to let the parents stay with the remaining children. I don't subscribe to "any parents are better than none." For the sake of those kids, and their future kids, and society as a whole they should be imprisoned.
Interestingly, if they had killed the next door neighbor kid no one would have a problem imprisoning them and putting their kids in foster homes. But because it was their OWN kid, and because it was religiously inspired.. well, then it's not bad enough to take their kids from them and put the parents in jail.
The craziness of religion influences our judicial system. Pathetic and outrageous.
I don't think the judge should be impeached, as one user said, beacuse that is rather harsh, don't you think? Sure, he made a decision based on an assumption that a great magical wizard in the sky exists (which it doesn't), but if he had made the case about whether or not God exists, the case would have dragged on for MONTHS. Come on people, that judge had serial killers to put away, he didn't have time for that!
Nail on the head, Hump. Still, for some reason, I can't help feel sorry for the ignorant fucks. Imaginge how conflicted they must be trying to justify the loss of their child with their nonsencical faith, and still their parting words indicate how hoplessly lost to reason they are. So very sad all around.
Jamison: no, it is not being too harsh on the judge. Religion has no place in the law. The judge is incompetent.
Texas Mike: no reason to feel sorry. They probable just bring out the old bullshit "that's how my god wanted it".
Jamison,
The judge would not have had to decide on existence or non-existencre of God. The judge simply had to assess if society and their remaining kids are better served by allowing parents to forego modern medical science, which has extended our lives beyond the average of 25 years of the 1st century, in favor of prayer for someone incapable of making their own decision.
And he did that. They were convicted of manslaughter. The problem lies with the sentence not the verdict. How does that sentence deter continued sacrifice of children at the alter of superstition? Further, if justice is blind, and we are all equal under our judicial system, what would you think the sentence would be for the hypothetical voo-doo believer, wiccan, or new age spiritualist whose child suffered a similar fate?
@Texas Mike:
I don’t feel sorry for these ignorant parents, not one fucking bit – I only feel sorry for the child. You see, if the child had recovered, then they would have
been convinced that their fucking Gawd had healed the child – but in this case, in their ignorant and deluded minds, the child died because Gawd, simply called the child home to heaven – this is a win-win for these ignorant morons in either case.
Good Post, Hump!
Fuck these parents. They should be killed...slowly.
What a legal system we have. I have a friend who has a mandatory 10-year prison sentence because he was going with and planning on marrying a girl whose I.D. said she was 21. She was a brilliant, attractive girl too young to be going with my friend--legally. No one was hurt, no one died, both were consenting--one wasn't an adult. Ten years.
Kill your kid with prayer and get probation. What a legal system we have.
[[[ The following was received via email from a Christian subscriber on 2/22/11. I am reposting it here ]]]]
These extremists do exist. Fortunately not many!!
The gift of God's grace is challenged when people ignore the benefits of the talents of God's people. The leader that convinced these people to do this will have to answer for this type of tragedy.
I remember well the gift of talent that saved Christopher's life and the words of both of the Drs as they acknowledged the Miracle of his life. I give thanks for the talents that enable life. Without those talents, I would have joined my ancestors many years ago. Was that God's will or was this tragedy God's will?
We will not know God's mind until we pass.
I do take issue with the attached picture. It is not the child in question and was used for effect, which is exactly why I take nothing from this website as credible. The Atheist Camel is representative of a Religious Doctrine as zealous as any Christian or Jewish document.
Unfortunately, the courts do not protect Children. We have a horrible case in Florida that is unfolding as I write. It happened a few miles from here and DCF and Schools allowed abuse to continue on a pair of twins that now has resulted in torture with acid and the death of the little girl and permanent disfigurement for the boy. Evil exists! It exists in many forms and Humans are the carriers. We can see that in all religions and in Atheists as they have no moral obligation to resist evil.
A violation of Christian, Jewish or Islamic teachings lead to consequences for those individuals. Those consequences are not always apparent but do exist. Without consequence, Evil becomes very easy. Do I mean that Atheists have no conscience? No! Do all Christians have a consequence? No! Is Evil "owned" by any group? No!
Evil is not always easy to identify as it can be subtle. Evil teachings of the Gospels are condemned and Christians are mandated by Biblical teachings to challenge and learn. The tenets of Christian teaching center on the following, Act Justly, Love Mercy and Walk humbly with your God. Do all Christians follow that doctrine? Again No!
Enough of my preaching. We really need to have this discussion in person as both of us can discuss and get to a greater understanding of the lives we lead and the world we live in. Religion will always be present and there will always be Evil. (Unless you accept Revelations predictions) that is another discussion.
On a better note, thanks to good Surgeons and Rehab, Helen will come home on Friday and I am so ready! Everything really seems to be going well for her but the original hip (right side) still does not have full flexibility. It appears that the first surgeon was not one of the good ones. The Dr repaired as best he could that hip but Helen already feels this new hip (Left side) is more flexible. I am hopeful that the days of pain are behind her.
Jack,
Thank you for this example of genuine Christian gibberish.
Interesting that based on my use of a photograph that I did indeed use for effect you decided to dismiss my entire blog's credibility even though it is predicated on actual events and facts, as well as my opinion based on those verifiable events and facts.
And yet, you are quick to accept the inane babblings, erroneous science, and superstitious nonsense of bronze age nomads and 1st century cultists, neither of which have as much basis in fact as does the existence of Isis, Baal, Ganesh, or Bigfoot. But such is the effect of the God Virus.
The answer to why a religionist (whose acceptance of delusion runs so deep and who discounts my essays as unworthy of credibility)subscribes to my blog only you know. Never the less happy to have you as a reader.
Regards,
Hump
PS: I don't know who Helen is, but I'm glad she's on the mend
They just lost another child for the same reason. Check it out.
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