Feature
- Are You Breastfeeding For the "Right" Reasons?
- CarLashes: Because Even Your Car Needs a Vagina
- Would You EVER Take These Sex Tips?
- When Strippers and Churches Protest One Another
- Your Children Are Disgusting Perverts and It's Never Going to Change
- Would You Allow a 14-Year-Old to Get Permanent Makeup? This Mom Did.
- Rapper Cee Lo Green's "F*ck You" Goes All Viral on Women
- Sure, Women Will Have Equal Pay ... in 57 Years
- Miley Cyrus: Not Such a Good Role Model After All
- Where Have All the Masculine Men Gone?
In an article on Revelife.com, a girl under the pseudonym “Jessica” has a heart-wrenching story to tell.
When Jessica was fifteen and in high school, she was diagnosed with a fatal brain tumor that would surely be her demise if not for the only life-saving surgery that was readily available to her. Her treating physicians stated that without treatment, she would be dead in six months.
Jessica, who had fallen down with a seizure at a friend’s home while playing, was taken to the nearest hospital by her playmate’s parents, where she was found to have the tumor. Upon the notification of her parents, they arrived at the hospital and began berating her for allowing her friend’s family to take her to the hospital to begin with, as they were devout Christian Scientists, whose beliefs regarding healing relied solely on prayer and faith – no medical intervention.
After serious deliberation, which included Jessica’s pleas to undergo emergency surgery and her parents’ desire to rely on her faith through the Church, Jessica was granted entrance into the OR to commence her life-saving procedure, on her own accord.
Shortly after her treatment and miraculous full recovery, her parents disowned her for going against them, and in effect, her religion.
Christian Scientists’ beliefs are heavily rooted in natural, spiritual healing of any and all ailments. Just like any other religious sector, there are clearly extremists and individual groups that are more laid-back about their faith and convictions. Faith aside, I have to say that clearly, without medical intervention, this would surely be one dead child. It’s parents of this sort that really prompt me to be thankful for the Children’s Services and Welfare branch of our government.
According to the always-helpful Wikipedia:
“In the United States, the constitutional guarantee of protection of religious practice from intrusion by government has been used by Christian Scientists and other religious groups to seek exemption from legal requirements regarding child abuse and neglect (including medical neglect) in more than three quarters of the states. There are statutes in 44 states which allow that children are not to be deemed abused or neglected merely because they are receiving treatment by spiritual means according to the tenets of a recognized religion.”
Good luck to “Jess,” wherever she may be. As for the crazies (which, please believe, I am not trying to malign the Christian Science faith; just these particular individuals)… Well, we’ll see what the afterlife holds for you as well.
-
-
21
Well isn’t that just like the case that was recently in the news, where the girl died after her father refused her to get help. I think it is on par with murder, or at least manslaughter.
Situations like this make me so mad that I’m shaking. It’s bad enough to deny your child a life-saving surgery. But to DISOWN your child because she made a decision that saved her life? I just…I can’t even handle it.
It probably wasn’t that hard for them to do. They’d already resigned themselves to her death.
I fucking hate cults.
It makes me want to bash heads as well…
I’m a Christian, and I think that people who use their religious beliefs as an excuse to refuse medical treatment are crazy.
In my opinion, God gave us the talented and knowledgeable medical professionals and works through them. Refusing modern medicine is stupid–who’s to say that modern medicine isn’t God’s way of helping us?
You are a level-headed genius.
*hugs!*
You’ve completely taken the words out of my mouth, verbatim.
It’s OK, malign the Christian Scientists
You are quite the contrarian. Why do you even hang out here?
He does it for the high of causing drama and discord.
Oh am I suddenly the only person who doesn’t like Christian Scientists?
As upset as I am that her parents disowned her, I am really glad she did what she wanted, despite her parents’ wishes.
Don’t worry, let them die in horrible pain when cancer strikes them. If you come to think about it, if they don’t want treatment, there will be more available professionals for those of us who actually want to actively save our lives :)
As for the children, well, we can be thankful about the child protection system.
Yeesh. I was raised Christian, and I honestly think Christian Science goes against some of the core beliefs of Christianity. There’s a story about a man trapped in a flood who’s sitting on his roof waiting for god to save him, and a boat comes by three times to get him, and he denies help each time. And when he DIES from being a dumbass, he asks god what’s up with the not saving him, and god says that he sent three boats. If these people’s god didn’t want them to cure brain tumors, why did he give the doctors the ability to do so, HM????
Haha! I use that one all the time. But mine is three boats and a helicopter.
Cults are scary. Any religion that tells you to disown family members who go against your beliefs is a scary cult.
Your “cult” comment got me curious and I did a quick read on Christian Science. It’s definately based on some very kooky ideas and like Syd said, it does go against many core Christian beliefs. It seems to have some similarities to Scientology. Yeah, I think the cult label is fitting.
Yeah. Apparently my mother dated a Christian Scientist when she was in high school. He was out with a friend when he had a medical emergency (seizure or something) and the friend brought him to my MOTHER to call the ambulance because he knew the kid’s parents wouldn’t do a thing. How crazy must that be that kids who were probably like 16 at the time have to deal with it but the parents won’t?
HeyZelda Lilies,
I bookmarked this site and check it at least twice a week–love your stuff! I’m unsettled, however, by this posting. Having been raised in Christian Science (and as one who no longer practices), I can tell you that this “disowning” case is rarer than a heterosexual male fan at a Tori Amos concert. The Christian Science faith does not prevent its members from seeing doctors; many do. This is simply a case of bad parenting.
Oh, and you might want to do your homework on the site the article was actually published on. Traditional “Christians” eschew Christian Science because they don’t do the whole “I accept Jesus as my Lord and savior bit.” Nor do they take stands on political issues. I’m not surprised they jumped to post this biased article that does not present alternate points of view. I’d have expected a bit more critical thinking from the writers at Zelda Lily.
I’ve done my homework. It’s a cult.
Mary Baker Eddy was using religion, and the power it gave her over her followers, to make money. She wasn’t interested in saving souls. She tailored her religion to appeal to the upper classes because they had money. People just love to hear that there’s no sin, and therefore no hell. They’ll pay a lot of money to anybody who can make them believe that it’s true. Especially if they can continue to feel like “Good Christians.” Most especially if they don’t have to believe in the divinity of Christ while being “Good Christians.”
She decided that only her interpretation of the Bible was accurate and she changed many of the meanings to suit her needs. Classic cult behavior.
And as for eschewing medicine, that’s absolutely accurate. Prayer is used to fight off the “non reality” of illness. There have been many court battles involving practicing Christian Scientists about refusal to treat children medically. The church itself does not need to lay down a specific edict refusing to allow members medical attention when they’ve already convinced them that there’s “no such thing” as illness.
This is disgusting. It’s stories like this that make me so thankful for my parents…
Alzaetia, that’s a well-written post, but I don’t quite get the “making money” bit. Christian Science churches typically do not receive much in tithes, nor do they encourage excessive donation from their members–nothing like what I’ve seen from the more traditional Christian churches I’ve attended.
And, please. Many religions use fear of hell and punishment as a way to guilt followers into staying or returning to the church. Christian Science offers a way for its practitioners to continue on a spiritual progression, without the fear and hate mongering associated with so many other religions. There’s no guilt, there’s no fear, it’s just something that’s out there if you feel it’s right for you. Hey, they don’t show up on your blogs or on your doorstep telling you that you’re evil and straying from the path of goodness. Why would you waste your time?