Should it be a crime to not give a child modern medicine?

No question about it, very good point above that parents are guardians of the child's lives and have no right to put any life at risk.

 

Not as long as parents are given unfettered rights to decide what their children are taught. (Right now, parents can pretty much pull their kids out of whatever they disagree with.)

 

Yes. period.

 

I totally agree. Abortion is a prime example of parents absconding with their child's rights based on belief.

 

Yes. Praying doesn't cure anything.

 

I personally think it a bit neglectful to let a child suffer because of your beliefs, but then again I hate taking any form of medicine.

 

The child should be taken to a hospital and (if you feel the need) prayed for during the treatment.... You can't just pray the sick away... XD

 

I think it should be. The logic of Christian scientists blows my mind. "If you just pray, the sickness will heal, and it's immoral to seek medical treatment." WHAT!?!?

I think this is an instance where there's a legitimate government interest in taking away someone's religious freedom, ESPECIALLY when there's a child involved.

 

And your post is a prime example of trying to derail a thread. Please stay on topic and don't drag other controversial issues into this discussion needlessly.

 

THANK YOU!!! It's too bad we don't have this rule in politics.

 

I think he's very much on topic. It seems amazing to me that an act performed inside the womb is abortion but outside the womb it's called child abuse.

 

Good intentions, bad execution. The thing is, they're unintentionally letting natural selection to take effect.

I don't get why their beliefs blind them from doing something effective. Children should have the right to medical care. In the eyes of the law, praying instead of health care is negligence.

 

Supposed tangential relation =/= on topic. This is not up for discussion. (If you do want to discuss it, we ask that you post a thread in Ask the Staff to do so. This applies to all staff directions.)

 

I don't think it should be a crime, actually.

I'd wager that a lot of people turning to prayer/new-age medicine/etc. instead of modern medicine are doing so because they don't trust or believe in modern medicine to begin with. By giving their child something they believe to be harmful, I think that would place them more up for neglect than trying to "help" their child, however misguided it may be.

If the law is going to criminalize people for not utilizing modern medicine, it should first focus on making modern medicine accessible to everyone.

 

It hurts me so much that there are children who suffer from diseases at an early age. That said, I think it may even be worse that their parents would place belief above their own child's physical health. The sad thing is, for the parents who do let their kids die without proper treatment, they still sometimes don't have regrets. "At least they'd be with the Lord, and and not be sinful." is what one person said to me during a debate.

I think while it should be a crime, it won't be possible to do so without taking some serious differentiations on what freedom of religion means, and particularly what you are doing when "exercising" those rights.

If it ever becomes law, let me just tell you that a significant portion of this country will proooobably lose their crap.

 

Well thank you for the interjection. I fail to see the difference between a child and a child. I must regretfully digress for the sake of conversation on this forum. So many things in common, but a world apart. It was a legitimate point, at the extreme end I'll admit, but if it can't be included in a "complete" conversation I must say goodbye.

 

Yeah, it should be.

 

If you decide to hang around these forums, you'll unfortunately learn that it's near-impossible to have a "complete" conversation in a forum format. This lesson has been proven time and time again to the staff here.

Also, you can't go from using extreme examples to justify your point (medicine and abortion being very lightly linked in this context) to extreme generalizations to justify your point (a child and a child, therefore it's all the same issue). Conversations don't work like that.

 

It is quite unfortunate that a complete conversation can't be had here. Thank you for everything.