Comments on: Is religion a form of child abuse? Part II https://gregladen.com/blog/2007/11/30/is-religion-a-form-of-child-ab-1/ Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:26:40 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.6 By: Sandy https://gregladen.com/blog/2007/11/30/is-religion-a-form-of-child-ab-1/#comment-550321 Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:26:40 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2007/11/30/is-religion-a-form-of-child-ab-1/#comment-550321 I think it’s so sad that this boy died because of his belief. Jesus died for you to save us and we don’t need to make any of these sacrifies he did them for us. There is nothing wrong in having a blood transfusion God doesn’t want us to have to lie in pain and then die. I think people should start reading the bible more carefully.

]]> By: Mark https://gregladen.com/blog/2007/11/30/is-religion-a-form-of-child-ab-1/#comment-550320 Mon, 03 Dec 2007 14:22:24 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2007/11/30/is-religion-a-form-of-child-ab-1/#comment-550320 Jehovah’s Witnesses are an arrogant self promoting cult from the get-go they will not take NO for an answer.
Don’t let them recruit your loved ones,think of David Koresh & Jim Jones!

]]> By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2007/11/30/is-religion-a-form-of-child-ab-1/#comment-550319 Sat, 01 Dec 2007 18:11:42 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2007/11/30/is-religion-a-form-of-child-ab-1/#comment-550319 [ADDED: Go see this commentary by Orac]

]]> By: gex https://gregladen.com/blog/2007/11/30/is-religion-a-form-of-child-ab-1/#comment-550318 Sat, 01 Dec 2007 13:57:00 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2007/11/30/is-religion-a-form-of-child-ab-1/#comment-550318 I never do this normally, but this thread had enough of these that I just must speak out.

The past tense of “they are” is “they were”. It is not “they where”.

]]> By: Nathaniel https://gregladen.com/blog/2007/11/30/is-religion-a-form-of-child-ab-1/#comment-550317 Sat, 01 Dec 2007 13:14:46 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2007/11/30/is-religion-a-form-of-child-ab-1/#comment-550317 My references to “their child” was that the child was under her custody and therefore “legally” hers. It specifically states that the child was not under the custody of his parents. Now if the term “custody” was misleadingly used here to simply denote that he was not at his parents house… then that’s another story. If the parents where the legal guardians of the child and they said “give him the blood!” then yeah, judge did it wrong. However, I doubt that was the case. No judge would flat out ignore the request of a child’s legal guardians on the child’s behalf.

I’m just talking about legal guardians. It seems to me as if the Aunt was the legal guardian at the time. That can’t really be ignored. And, that’s not really my point. I’m saying “legally, the right thing happened” however “spiritually, the wrong thing happened because there is no religious texts that state ‘no blood transfusions'”. That’s my point.

]]> By: OriGuy https://gregladen.com/blog/2007/11/30/is-religion-a-form-of-child-ab-1/#comment-550316 Sat, 01 Dec 2007 00:19:39 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2007/11/30/is-religion-a-form-of-child-ab-1/#comment-550316 Nathaniel, read the original story again. The parents are not Jehovah’s Witnesses. The child was converted by his aunt, who was his legal guardian. The parents had lost (or given up) custody because of drug problems and were getting their lives together.

]]> By: Nathaniel https://gregladen.com/blog/2007/11/30/is-religion-a-form-of-child-ab-1/#comment-550315 Fri, 30 Nov 2007 23:52:48 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2007/11/30/is-religion-a-form-of-child-ab-1/#comment-550315 Alright, let me distill my opinions on the matter then… only what is most relavent.

The child was obviously not an adult, the choice was thusly that of his legal guardians. Legally, they do have the right to accept or deny medical care.

The question then is “was it morally the right choice?” Obviously, they thought it was… or they wouldn’t have killed the child in their custody.

So we move on to the basis of that choice, their religion. I still want to see specific biblical verses that say “taking blood into the body is bad.” However, even if such verse(s) exist, the bible was written when there was no concept of a “blood transfusion”. Thusly, reading ANYTHING in the bible as “no blood transfusions” is taking it out of context.

So, the JW’s do have the right to say “I don’t believe in blood transfusions.” That’s fine, that’s their right. However, they claim to follow the bible in a more “correct” way than every other Christain. Thusly, I think it’s fair that they justify this belief. Only they can’t.

The problem here is that whether they where right or wrong, they have the right to deny their child medical care. PERIOD! I defend their right to uphold their beliefs. Even if I don’t believe their beliefs to be morally right. Not much else to it than that.

]]> By: Anne https://gregladen.com/blog/2007/11/30/is-religion-a-form-of-child-ab-1/#comment-550314 Fri, 30 Nov 2007 19:27:12 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2007/11/30/is-religion-a-form-of-child-ab-1/#comment-550314 As someone pointed out in an earlier post, a 14 year old not an adult. Though they are old enough so that their desires and opinions should be taken into consideration in any decisions affecting them, they still do not have — IMO — the maturity to understand certain kinds of decisions. It’s too bad that the only kind of care the kid had that was consistent, was from a JW aunt. If, for example, he’d had a Catholic aunt, this would probably not have been a problem(there might have been other problems, but at least the whole “blood transfusion” thing would not have been a problem). Bottom line: kids that age are still very<.i> impressionable, and someone “in authority” can influence their decisions, even their lives, even if indirectly. Maybe he thought he was being “independent” as only a teenager can think, but while I don’t think the JW aunt was being “abusive”, I suspect she was very “manipulative”, even if for the most benign of reasons — in her mind.
Anne G

]]> By: Orac https://gregladen.com/blog/2007/11/30/is-religion-a-form-of-child-ab-1/#comment-550313 Fri, 30 Nov 2007 18:01:30 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2007/11/30/is-religion-a-form-of-child-ab-1/#comment-550313 By the way, my view of the Dennis Linberg case is here.

]]> By: PalMD https://gregladen.com/blog/2007/11/30/is-religion-a-form-of-child-ab-1/#comment-550312 Fri, 30 Nov 2007 17:58:02 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2007/11/30/is-religion-a-form-of-child-ab-1/#comment-550312 Old saying: “Never eat gribines at the mohel’s house” (look it up).

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