Comments

1
If only that baby had believed harder.

Maybe he should have had a gun.
2
It seems faith healing is just an everyday dose of confirmation bias, fortified with the easy out of "It wasn't God's plan." when things don't work out.
3
Infanticide! If you want to pray yourself to death, good on you. But you can't do that to a helpless child! Send them to prison.
4
I'm sorry, but that headline is giving me an image of an owl eating a tootsie pop.
5
Death penalty for both of them. They don't deserve to live either. Let their "god" save them.
6
It takes an insanely massive ego to watch your child waste away and die just so you do not have to examine your silly little beliefs, and possibly find them incorrect.

Parents like this are only interested in themselves, and their children are merely a way to bring themselves glory and admiration.

They are murderers and should be treated as such.

7
I say we charge them as enemy combatants.
8
@4 - If they bite into the next one, they're definitely going to prison.
9
Why make society pay for their incarceration? Just sterilize them both so they can't do it again.
10
TWO dead babies. These people are clearly criminally insane. Then I'd say institutionalize them until she's post-menopause. If they have any other kids, take them away NOW and terminate all parental rights. But I want to ask the judge: were there court-ordered visits to the pediatrician? Or was their word good enough for you? Had this kid EVER been seen by a doctor, even at birth? I'm not diminishing the fault of the parents in any way when I say this, but I feel like the state had a role in protecting this baby, who wasn't even conceived when his brother died of negligent homicide.

This makes the pain of infertility even harder to bear.
11
I don't understand why you wouldn't think that MODERN MEDICINE could actually be part of the process of god healing your child. If you believe in god and believe that god gave us huge brains and opposable thumbs... well, look at how we used those things your god gave us to invent the wonder of modern medicine! And we can use these godly gifts to heal your child! It's not a fucking game of chicken where you stare down god and hope he makes your child better! Use the tools that are at your disposal and pray that they work as they should and that there are no complications!

Fucking IDIOTS.
12
@ 11 FTW
13
a believer receives healing for free

If only Scientology were so generous...
14
But in these people's minds, their children are in heaven with God, so they're actually better off than if they had stayed here. There is no downside.
15
As the Catholic Church has taught us, any attempt to dictate medical care based on scientific evidence and rational thought is a violation of the religious freedom of the Faithful, who need to be allowed to make decisions driven by their beliefs and conscience. Those kids totally violated their parents' First Amendment rights by dying.
16
@14 - Then abortions should be mandatory. These people never think through their own ideologies.
17
And Tony Perkins rails on and on about how I'd be an unfit parent. I think he's looking in the wrong places.
18
@11-"It's not a fucking game of chicken where you stare down god and hope he makes your child better!"

You're forgetting the story of Job. Life totally is a game of chicken with God, and unless you steer straight at those divine headlights the devil wins.
19
How many people have to die before you stop believing in democracy?
20
This surprises you guys? The American legal system views children as parents' property to dispose of as they see fit.
21
I kind of think this is one of those places that our Founding Fathers got it wrong with that Freedom of Religion thing...
22
These so called parents are murderers. Good grief they should have NEVER been allowed to parent more children! This is gross malfeasance on the justice system's part.
23
I say this as a Christian: "Fucking idiots."
24
I'm a little surprised that they've come to this decision. Usually being fucked over by God so much tends to make people MORE desperate to believe and less interested in climbing out of the hole they dug for themselves (and the children they leave behind.)
25
@11 my understanding is that this is the traditional Jewish position -- God gave us brains and thumbs so we could use them for good, not stick them up our asses and sit around while children die.
26
They have seven other kids:

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/…
27
Enough. Put them in jail and throw away the key.
28
I know this shit happened occasionally 150 years ago, but one family losing TWO children to illness makes me think these people aren't only eschewing modern medicine, they weren't tending to their sick children on any practical or traditional level either.
29
@25,11 I was raised Jewish, and while I can't speak for all Jews, I was taught that we have an obligation to try to be more godlike by doing things like caring for the sick. So, modern medicine is seen as a human obligation. Also, saving a life is mandatory if you can do so and there are only three laws more important than doing so - not worshiping another deity, not killing an innocent, and not committing incest. I, personally, wouldn't rank things that way, but it's what I was taught is the Jewish position. It means things like even though you're not supposed to work on the Sabbath, if you have to work to save somebody's life, you are required to break the rule to rest on the Sabbath. And even though you aren't allowed to eat or drink anything on Yom Kippur, if you are sick or pregnant or otherwise your health is frail or questionable, then you are required to eat and drink on Yom Kippur (but are supposed to refrain from treats and to keep it plain, rather than having a gourmet meal). It is nicely practical that way.

As to these two people. It's fairly clear child abuse by way of parental neglect. And according to the article they did have several more children, who were taken away. But I very much agree that there should have been court-ordered doctor's visits for the children and some monitoring of the parents. And it doesn't sound like there was. I want to know things like - were these children even vaccinated?
30
Somebody's testicles need to be placed in a Mason jar. And they should offer him prayer instead of anesthesia.
31
castrate him and yank her uterus out. without anesthesia. because god will help them, right?
32
@21 - I don't have the citations handy, but I had read of contemporary arguments from legal scholars at the time saying that the first amendment should never be construed to mean that people should be exempted from the law because of their religious beliefs, just that no law should target religions or seek to restrict expression of belief. It's all a lovely theoretical premise, of course, but hard to implement in the real world when any legislation is shouted down as an attack on religious liberties.
33
I'm wondering whether the church can or should be tried for its role in promoting the couples' behavior. Does anyone have legal insight into where the first amendment ends and culpability begins?
34
It is outrageous, but not surprising. This kind of thing is the expected outcome when you combine the "children as parents' property" meme with the "religious freedom to opt out of damn near anything" meme. You want religious freedom? You want the gov't to stay 10 miles away from child-rearing? Then occasionally kids will die. This should not surprise anyone.

Me personally, I'd severely limit religious freedom (a la @32) and make potential parents and parents subject to licensing, similar to maintaining a driver's license to operate a vehicle. But this is AMERICA so neither of those things will happen and I'm a dirty liberal communist (or maybe a nazi, depends on the troll) for suggesting them.
35
The parents should have read this story.

@29: I'm right with you on that, amecha. Thanks for posting.
36
I just left THIS on the church's website:

"You people are pure evil. The Schaible's two children are dead because of the nonsense you preach. I'm not sure what's worse - the ignorant belief that "praying" over a sick child will cure a bacterial infection or what you all do; the purposeful misleading of vulnerable people with sick children so that you can earn a buck.

You are so far from ANYTHING Jesus represents. You are criminals and hopefully after a thorough investigation, you will end up in prison where you belong.

Bastards - every single one of you. May you rot in Hell."
37
@36: Why bother? You're not going to get through the crazy of persons who encourage their flock to kill their children through neglect-as-virtue.
38
@35 that story is exactly what I thought of when I read this.
39
Has glurge ever changed anyone's mind, ever? I always thought it existed to comfortably confirm pre-existing beliefs.

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