Teenager from faith-healing family dies in Oregon...should the government have intervened?

Question

How do you feel about this Christian family's decision?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080619/ap_on_re_us/faith_healing_death

Answer 1

Unfortunatly it is THEIR choice...not the Governments.....you libs refuse to say a word about the "crimminal" practices of the extreme Muslims...so we expect the same stupid silence here...or are you libs a bunch of hypocrites?

Answer 2

First, they are extremist. They don't represent 99.9 % of Christians. Freedom versus government intervention, tough call.

Answer 3

He didn't want help, the government should stay out of it.

Same with them that like to french kiss rattlesnakes, they get bit on the tongue you just drag'em over in the corner and get on with the program.

Answer 4

In my hometown, there were Mormons that had a similar thing happen.  The dad was a chiropractor and believed it would heal his son.  Well the kid died... and nothing happened to him.

Commenting on faith is hard to do.... someday it will be considered murder but not today.

Answer 5

consrgreat is dead on.

Answer 6

yes---these crazy faith-healers are somehow worse than the crazy homeopathic healers

Answer 7

If it were a thirteen year old girl wanting to have s*x or get an abortion, the govt would say it's her body let her do as she wishes.  So let them butt out now.

Answer 8

No - but after the death they should prosecute the parents for murder.

Answer 9

It is unfortunate that he died from a treatable condition,  but it isn't the government's job to protect people from themselves. I disagree with the government intervening in any personal decision including euthanasia and abortion.  The most that should be allowed is to try to convince someone of an alternative.  If that fails, then nothing else should be done.

EDIT:  The government's "war on drugs" cannot be won, and I also believe that government would do better to regulate it in the same way they do cigarettes and alcohol in order to control the deleterious effects on society - not the individual.

The parents did not neglect their child.  They chose an ineffective form of "treatment".  In another time or place, that would have been an acceptable choice.

Answer 10

no/ they have to live with their decision. they should be tried for manslaughter.

Answer 11

why should the government spend our money on trying to help people who don't want to help themselves....oh wait...maybe they should have been on welfare....

Answer 12

h**l no! The government has no right to intervene in peoples private matters, regardless of how stupid and delusional they are.

Answer 13

Yes, It is child negligence.

Answer 14

I am a Christian, but I understand that God sometimes answers prayers by sending us to the answer.

If we pray for money, sometimes the answer is a job.

If we pray for wisdom, sometimes the answer is a book.

If we pray for health, sometimes the answer is the right doctor, chiropractor, or nutritionalist.

Do I think that the government should have stepped in?  Yes.  If it was an adult making those decisions for themselves, I would say no, but they were not relying on God, they were acting as if they were God.

And as demorat pointed out, they were extremists and not representative of the majority of Christians.