The Atheist Blogger

Just less than 3 months ago I reported on the arrest and presecution of the parents of Ava Worthington, a 15 month old girl who died because instead of taking their daughter to a doctor, they left her healing up to faith. Quite unsurprisingly, she died from a combination of bronchial pneumonia and a blood infection, which were both perfectly treatable by modern medicine.

The family were members of a large fundamentalist church know as “Followers of Christ”, and they have a dark history of child abuse, neglect, and manslaughter. Now Ava Worthington’s own cousin, 16 year old Neil Beagley has died from a heart failure caused by urinary tract blockage. Members of the same church, Beagley’s parents believed that the power of prayer would heal their son, and called on fellow churchgoers to a prayer session last Sunday when Neil’s condition worsened. He died two days later.

A 1999 Oregon state law prevented parents from using a religious based defense in court, and this law was first used to prosecute the parents of Ava Worthington. However, since by Oregon law people over 14 years old are allowed to choose the method of medication they receive, it is doubtful anything will happen to the parents.

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Well it was inevitable that the wide media coverage of this story would blow a hole wide open and reveal similar stories that have been covered up in the past. Debunking Christianity found just a few of these stories, the most recent reporting that the accused parental murderers will be facing prosecution for the manslaughter of their 15 month old daughter who died in March this year.

This report uncovered the fundamentalis church “Followers of Christ”, which has a long history of toturing and murdering children. The church practices faith healing, but goes further than most churches by shunning those who go against church doctrine, a crime which includes seeking medical help. It’s a simple but deadly scare tactic: Go to a doctor…go to hell.

What really sickens me about these people is this part of the article:

During the latter part of the twentieth century, the church began to attract attention from authorities in the state of Oregon due to an unusally-high mortality rate among its children. Larry Lewman, a former medical examiner in the state alleges that during a ten-year period, twenty-five children perished due to lack of medical intervention–a death rate 26 times higher than the general population; an investigation by The Oregonian claimed that 21 out of 78 minors found to be buried in the church cemetary died of preventable causes, including simple infections which would be easily treated with routine antibiotics.

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