Church midwife in Oregon believes in letting babies die
I'm glad I don't have high blood pressure, because some days reading the newspaper makes me feel like my head (or my heart?) is going to explode.
Today's outrage is nicely encapsulated by the Portland Oregonian headline that caught my eye at the top of the Metro section: "Midwife calls death God's will."
The death was that of David Hickman, who was born two months early and lived a unduly short life of nine hours because his parents were wacko Oregon City Christians who believe in faith healing.
(I've written about previous child sacrifice deaths committed by Followers of Christ church members here, here, and here.)
It's ridiculous how religious belief is used as a justification for letting children die without seeking necessary medical care. If somebody stands by while a child dies without dialing 911, this should be an open-and-shut legal case: guilty.
But while this is the 21st century, some cultural attitudes are still stuck in ancient history because of religion's stultifying influence. Here's a blunt reader comment on the Oregonian story that I liked:
Religion poisons everything it touches. If we stoped teaching our kids about a made-up hell they wouldn't grow up to be brainwashed. PULL YOUR HEADS OUT OF THE BRONZE-AGE PEOPLE!!!!!!
The following quotes from the Oregonian story indicate what good advice that last sen! tence is . Lavona Keith is the church midwife who helped with the delivery of David Hickman, who should have survived according to a neonatologist.
A church midwife who attended the home birth of David Hickman, who was born two months early and lived only nine hours, said she does not believe the premature baby should have been taken to the hospital.
In unusually candid testimony, Lavona Keith said "it wasn't God's will for David to live."
...Under questioning by prosecutor John Wentworth, Keith said it is for God to decide whether a baby lives or dies.
"Is there anything a doctor can do to change that?" Wentworth asked.
"I don't think so," Keith said.
..."I would anoint" the child with oil but would not call a doctor, Keith said. "I believe in trusting in God."
What would God do, Wentworth asked.
"He would heal my baby," Keith said.
"What lesson was learned from David's death?" Wentworth asked.
"I don't know," Keith replied.
Lavona Keith, you are a fucking idiot.
Plus, every Christian, along with every idiotic true believer of any other faith, who believes that God's will determines whether a baby lives or dies also is a fucking idiot.
Religion rots minds. Religion kills innocent people. These are facts. As is the death of David Hickman, a baby sacrificed to a God who doesn't exist.
Here's more proof that if you seek to be moral, run away as far as you can from religion.
