Pyelonephritis is an infection of the kidney. Antibiotics are a known and readily-available cure. But that knowledge didn’t help Valery Shaw, who died in 1979 at the age of five months from a kidney infection. The pus and germs in Valery’s kidneys caused her pain, vomiting, painful urination and mental confusion that ended only with her death. Valery’s parents withheld medical care in favor of spells petitioning the magical intervention of an invisible monster that lives in the sky. Valery’s parents were never charged with a crime. Diabetes Melitus is a condition in which the pancreas does not produce enough insulin. The disease was known ancient Greece and India, and by the 1920s insulin therapy was known to be a life-saving option for those who have diabetes. Perhaps seven percent of people in the United States are known to have diabetes, and because a working therapy is known most of them will experience few harmful effects from the disease. But that knowledge didn’t help Bo Phillips, who died in 1998 at the age of eleven from diabetes. Bo went through near constant states of nausea and dementia until he died. Bo’s parents withheld medical care in favor of spells petitioning the magical intervention of an invisible monster that lives in the sky. Bo’s parents were never charged with a crime.
A hernia is a protrusion of an organ or tissue through the surrounding muscle. Hernias are known to be curable with simple surgeries and rest, and have few if any long-term negative effects. But that knowledge didn’t help Holland Cunningham, who died in 1999 at the age of six from a strangulated hernia. Holland’s blood was cut off in his muscles, causing his body to rot while he was still alive. Holland’s parents withheld medical care in favor of spells petitioning the magical intervention of an invisible monster that lives in the sky. Holland’s parents were never charged with a crime.
The parents of all of these children attended the Followers of Christ Church in Oregon City, Oregon. Nearly eighty children whose parents attend this church are known to have died from preventable causes since 1955, and none of their parents have been charged with any crime. Children who attended the Followers of Christ Church between 1989 and 1999 died at a rate twenty-six times more often than other children in Oregon. If their parents had let them die because of their politics, or aesthetics, or favorite musician, or nearly any other reason, they would have been charged with neglect if not outright murder. But because these parents denied medical care to their own children for religious reasons, no charges were brought against them.
Oregon law at the time stated that charges of criminal mistreatment did not apply to persons who provide children with “spiritual treatment through prayer from a duly accredited practitioner of spiritual treatment [...] in lieu of medical treatment.” While the Constitution of the United States clearly states that the government is not in the business of ‘accrediting’ who is fit to represent any particular superstition, this Oregon law stood unchallenged for decades while child after child died needlessly.
In the late 1990s, after a series of articles in the Portland, Oregon newspaper The Oregonian, Oregon State Representatives introduced HB 2494. This bill would have removed legal immunity from prosecution on charges of homicide, manslaughter, child abuse, neglect and the like when children were treated only by way of magic spells and not medical treatment. See-through sky creature superstitionists spoke against this proposed law, and a compromise was reached. Oregon House Bill 2494 does remove immunity by way of superstition from many criminal charges. But not for felony murder or first degree manslaughter. That is, the worst forms of murder are still excusable if the claimant can demonstrate they acted under the orders of an invisible monster that lives in the sky.
So here’s the deal. To be guilty of felony murder requires that you kill someone intentionally, planning ahead and not acting in a state of emotional distress. To be guilty of first degree manslaughter requires that you do intend to kill but it’s okay to be upset at the time. If you miss your chance to be get away with felony murder or first degree manslaughter, you still get preferential treatment if you are found guilty of second degree manslaughter. Most people found guilty of second degree manslaughter in Oregon face a mandatory seventy-five year prison sentence. But if you can convince a jury of your peers that a super space ghost made you do it, your sentence is at the discretion of the judge. Want to kill children and get away with it? Go to Church every Sunday and build up your spook-creds.
If the above makes you as angry as it does me, maybe you’d like to visit the Followers of Christ Church in Oregon City, Oregon and tell them about it by appointment in a reasoned, compassionate fashion. If you ‘make an appointment with them and do not convey your concerns in a reasoned, compassionate fashion, choosing instead to carry out acts of rage and violence, make sure to leave me out of it. If you say I told you to do something bad there, we’ll both get in trouble. But you will get away with it if you blame God.
[This essay is a slightly edited version of one written in 2007 for Key 64. - Trevor Blake]
