This past September, Oregon City Christian parents Dale and Shannon Hickman were sentenced to six years in prison for second-degree manslaughter after neglecting to seek medical attention for their premature newborn baby, David.
The couple belongs to the faith-healing church Followers of Christ, a church dedicated to Pentecostal practices. Walter White, nephew of Christian missionary George White, formed the Followers of Christ church in Oregon City in the 1940s.
Members don’t believe in obtaining medical treatment of any kind, for themselves or for their families, such as regular checkups, medicines, or hospital visits. Stated by Mark Duell of Mail Online, prosecutors said that David was born with a bacterial infection and underdeveloped lungs, and that medical care offered a 99 percent survival rate.
They did not take David in for medical care.
To substitute medical attention, members of Followers of Christ participate in prayer and rubbing oil on the ill.
According to an article written by Alison Smith of the James Randi Educational Foundation: “The cemetery behind the church contains graves belonging to seventy-eight minors. It is estimated that at least twenty-one of these children’s lives could have been saved with medical treatment.”
“If you believe in faith healing, decide it for your own life, not for those who are helpless. That baby never had a chance because of their decision for him,” said Katlyne Taylor, a nanny in the Portland area.
Unfortunately for the religious couple, Judge Herndon didn’t buy into their radical faith.
According to Nicole Dungca of the Oregonian, the judge was surprised that one of the midwives delivering the Hickman’s baby was uneducated on premature births, saying, “She’s one of the most dangerous people in Clackamas County.”Apparently, the Hickman couple don’t believe they did anything wrong, and neither do their attorneys. Dungca stated that Mark Cogan, Dale Hickman’s attorney, said, “Dale and Shannon Hickman are not criminals,” and believes that the six-year sentence is cruel.
This is the fourth case of a child’s death in the last three years involving the church.
“I often think that sometimes we misinterpret the idea of faith,” said Elizabeth Carlton, co-founder and communications director of No Bull Gospel in North Carolina. “That people sometimes end up like the guy in a flood standing on the roof of his house and praying to be saved. He turns away a boat and a helicopter claiming God would save him. Then he drowns and questions why, and God says, ‘I sent a boat and a helicopter, what more did you want?’”
“We’re too busy looking up to see the miracles right in front of us,” Carlton said.
In this country, we have the right to freedom of religion. However, we also have the right to freedom from religion. In my strong opinion, this means that you can practice any religion or faith you want, unless your personal beliefs infringe upon, or take away, other peoples’ rights. These rights include the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
These are rights that baby David will never get back, as well as the other lives that could have been saved with professional medical care.
Faith in God’s will can sometimes detract from faith in people, with negative consequences.
