(no subject)

[theweaselking]

Wait, wait, Washington State has a law that protects people guilty of Criminal Negligence Causing Death, if they're from one specific minor cult?

Unfortunately, the couple who murdered their son for religious reasons declined to argue in court that the other religion's protection should be extended to their religion - presumably because the ACTUAL ruling would most likely have been "they don't get an exception either, and you're guilty, and now you don't get a plea deal"

Comments

[lafinjack.livejournal.com]

I wonder how much their faith healing beliefs were dented, if at all. Do they think they just didn't pray hard enough, or what?

[glenn-3.livejournal.com]

I went to school with some Church of the First Born kids, and I don't really remember their families so much believing in faith healing. I mean, yes, they pray when somebody they love is ill, quite fervently, and sometimes God relents and hallelujah! But they don't actually expect God to change His mind, what with His grand and unknowable plan and whatnot, so it's more that they believe that if it's your time, it's your time, and it's wrong for doctors to interfere with that.

You'd think the fact doctors are powerful enough to counter the will of God would have some effect on their faith, but no.

[sophia8.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Do they believe its wrong to interfere with Gods plan in other areas as well? Like for instance, getting food by driving to the supermarket when its clearly God's plan that we go out into the forest and hunt for stuff to eat?

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

I would expect it's closer to "God decides if you will live or die, and thus, going to a doctor is irrelevant. Since the doctor cannot change God's will, then doctors are a waste of time and money"

[glenn-3.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, they do understand that doctors can save and improve lives, and just don't want any part of it.

One of the kids I knew had polyps dangling off his face, which as you can imagine, made his young life hell. Easily fixed, except that it was apparently God's will that he should carry that burden. I asked him if it was possible that it was God's will that a doctor should have a look at him, and his parents were standing in God's way. He was shocked. And I can't recall him ever speaking to me again--not that I blame him, because I wouldn't really want a school-mate giving me unsolicited medical advice either.

(Of course, I have a small sample size to go off. There was really only one--very large--Church of the First Born family around, if you want to get technical. Marrying outside the Church is discouraged, and if you're a tiny insular sector of an already small community, you run out of options pretty rapidly. So it's possible that the inbred hicks I knew are not representative of the religion at large.)

[sophia8.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, they do understand that doctors can save and improve lives, and just don't want any part of it.
So if one of the adults falls over and breaks a leg, how do they know that it's not God's will for them to hobble around with a shattered leg for the rest of their life? If one of the adults falls into a fire, how do they know its not God's will for them to spend what life is left to them by crawling around with half their skin burnt off and screaming in agony? If one of the adults gets into a car crash, how do they know it's not God's will for them to spend three or four days paralysed and impaled on a fencepost?
It seems to me that these people have a very specific idea of what God wants - and apparently, he wants their children to die slowly and painfully from curable medical conditions.

[glenn-3.livejournal.com]

There's either an accident exception for everybody, children included, or the adults aren't supposed to seek treatment for anything either (but, you know, being adults, they can sign their own paperwork). I can't remember which it is, if I ever knew.

But yeah, the thought processes involved with these guys who pick and choose 'what God wants' (which, really, is most religions, when you get down to it) just blow my mind. On the upside, growing up with Church of the First Born around gave me an early insight into the "God is bullshit! Gimme science!" point of view that's served me well in my adult life.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

with these guys who pick and choose 'what God wants' (which, really, is most religions, when you get down to it)

All religions, not "most" religions. The only question is who is deciding "what God wants".

[glenn-3.livejournal.com]

True, true.

I was thinking of it as "choosing which parts of the holy book to hold really sacred and which to ignore" and/or "deciding on God's behalf what God would want in situations that have no mention anywhere at all in the holy book"--but of course whoever thought up the stories in the first place is the start of it all.

[skiriki.livejournal.com]

*sigh* Every time I read about shit like this, I'm reminded of that old joke of a dude on rooftop during a flood, rowboat, Coast Guard, and helicopter asking to hop on and get rescued, guy saying he trusts God to rescue him, and finally, God asking "I gave you a rowboat, Coast Guard, and helicopter, what else you wanted me to give!?"