Faith Healing and the Government

Khalid Alnazer

When is the moment in time where the government says “enough is enough” and steps in to save a child whose parents are withholding medical treatment from them? If a child is found to have a life-threatening illness the parents should allow their child to have any medical treatment possible even if the medicine is still in its testing stages. A parent should want the longest lifespan for their child instead of just making them comfortable and living a shorter life. Any treatment is going to cause an ill child to suffer so parents should try and cherish every moment of their child’s precious life. Faith healing is all about one’s belief and spiritual connection with God and it is a far method away from the actual medical treatment and science of healing. There is no concrete evidence that faith healing actually works, but “true believers don’t value evidence or the scientific method: for them, belief is enough”(science-based medicine.org). Faith healing involves more than just the physical aspect of healing, it goes much deeper emotionally and gives a person the right attitude for overcoming whatever health issues they may dealing with, but this should be used in conjunction with medical treatment.

The positive effects of faith healing is that it restores strength to one’s mind, but negative effects can be the physical side effects a person’s body. Here are some points to consider. If a person could be saved through medical treatment shouldn’t the government get involved if the family of a person who is ill only wants to use the healing of their faith? If the family is causing harm to their child by ignoring medical treatment and only using their faith to heal should they be prosecuted if anything was to happen to their child? If there’s a cure out there for someone’s child to be saved then parents should not refuse the medical treatment and here is the ultimate question geared towards the general public but more specifically parents. So should the government intervene with a family if they are only relying on faith healing to cure their child? Yes they should

Faith healing is not wrong in any way and is a great way to keep a person’s mind at ease and their spirits high. One example of faith healing is that of a women who had multiple sclerosis for 30 years and all of a sudden she was getting better without medical intervention (science-based medicine.org). Now this could just be a fluke or maybe faith healing actually did help this woman to become cured, but the faith healing may have only given her hope, which pushed her to try harder with her muscles. Still there is no evidence or documentation to prove that this woman was healed completely and there is nothing wrong with receiving the proper medical attention when needed. This can lead to pain and suffering that is unnecessary so parents should do everything in their power to help their child.

There are cases that involved children that could have been saved if they received routine medical care. “In 1998-APR, Dr. Seth Asser, a critical-care pediatrician at Methodist Children's Hospital in San Antonio, studied 172 deaths of infants and children between 1975 and 1995 in 34 states”(religious toleranc.org). Out of these 172 children, 140 of them would have had a 90% chance survival rate if they had been given the proper medical attention. Over 80% of the 172 children could have survived but because they belonged to a religious group that only relied on faith healing they were unable to live a healthy life. There is no reason for this to happen so what’s wrong if the government intervened. This would be for the better of the children and the parents will be happy once they see that their child has a chance to live their life and fulfill their dreams.

One shocking case of child neglect due to avoidance of medical treatment was seen in Wisconsin when a mother only relied on prayer as a healing method for her 11-year-old daughter that had diabetes(The Washington Post). Unfortunately the girl didn’t survive because her disease was left untreated. So here is when the government intervened and later in court the mother was sentenced to 6 months in jail and 10 years probation. There is no reason that this should have happened and now the mother is going to jail for her actions. This should make the public and especially parents aware of the consequences if they choose to withhold medical treatment from their children.

So there are definitely positive effects that faith healing can have on people but this is not the only way to overcome a sickness and become healthy once again. Prayer is important but why refuse to use this method in conjunction with proper modern medicine to heal a child or person. The government should intervene with parents who are withholding medical treatment even if the treatment that’s available has only a 1% survival rate because it could possibly save a child and allow them to live a full lifetime. Parents should want every possible moment they can get with their child and if there’s any kind of medical treatment available they should not deny it. If there are laws that prohibit a parents treatment of their choice upon their child then this should open peoples eyes, thus allowing them to see that God put the doctors and medicine on this Earth so people can get treated and hopefully cured, so there is nothing wrong with parents using prayer alongside medical treatment.

Works Cited

Hall, Harriet. "Science-Based Medicine » Faith Healing." Science-Based Medicine. 26 Jan. 2010. Web. 02 Dec. 2011. <

Robinson, B. A. "The Effectivenss of Faith Healing." Religious Tolerance. Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, 8 Nov. 2010. Web. 02 Dec. 2011. <

Waters, David. "Under God: Faith Healing or Child Abuse? - David Waters." The Washington Post. 22 May 2009. Web. 03 Dec. 2011. <

Authors Note: My format begins with the criteria of when the government should actually step. After this I evaluate the topic of faith healing and give some background information from sources I found. Then I move into some examples of faith healing along with some statistics about it and finally conclude my paper restating and emphasizing my proposal argument. The examples that I gave were straightforward and were aimed specifically towards the parents of society. My tone was direct and persuasive because it was a touchy subject and parents need to know that they by themselves should not decide what’s best for their child if their child happens to be ill and needs medical treatment. At the end of every body paragraph I wrote a sentence aimed towards parents of society who are only using prayer as a treatment method. My sentences were moderately long and contained what was necessary to get the point across about my evaluation and proposal. Overall I believe that my paper will change parents view on the situation of faith healing.