ProPublica: Children died after parents chose faith healing in Idaho
NEW: For decades, Idaho laws have allowed parents who belong to the Followers of Christ and other faith-healing sects to pray rather than seek medical treatment as their children die. At least five sets of parents have lost multiple children.
bdyguy.bsky.social144Another example of the dangers of non critical thinking.
pjkool.bsky.social126Over our history, Christians have done more damage to American society than any other religion.
Susannah R102Parents who deny their children proper medical treatment should be charged with manslaughter and criminal child neglect if they choose prayer as their treatment modality or withhold vaccines & their kids die. Parents should not possess the legal right to dispose of their living children in this way.
BlueDotBubba@LesDepew.bsky.social58What happened to “Pro Life”
Miaganga31In Oregon we had a few pray them ‘well, kids died, parents got arrested. Christian Scientists - diff from Scientology- it’s murder
If you didn't vote Dem, you helped make this:30Another ProPublica report about stuff Republicans exclusively do that doesn't mention the word Republican. "The state" did this? No, Idaho Republicans did this. Not saying that clearly is a disservice to journalism, and you damn well know it. Be better.
Coach Finstock166The same pieces of shit that talk about fetal personhood are the ones who treat kids like property and let them die like a carnival goldfish
Snow Burrow20The idea that parents have a "right" to let a dying child die because they don't "believe" in proven lifesaving treatments is so toxic and terrible. What about the child's rights? They don't have any because their parents own them??? They are human beings, not extensions of their parents' person.
John Breen14My one “authoritarian” belief is that parents should not be able to opt out or vaccinations for their kids
Aaron Blackshear10Jehovah’s Witnesses used to pat themselves on the back for being warriors for religious freedom/bodily autonomy because they won some cases allowing parents to refuse blood transfusions for their kids I used to carry a card in my wallet saying not to give me blood if unconscious and bleeding out
David Bloomberg #BB28 #Survivor #TheTraitors6Straight up child murder and Idaho is OK with it. 😡
cool5They got life insurance policies on them children. They got a entire channel dedicated to stuff like this. It’s called the ID channel.
Rural Freedom Network4Idaho is weird. And kids are paying the price.
A-Wax4I have words about preventable death, organized religion, and total detachment from reasonable logic but imma be quiet.
💫🪐 r i s s a ✨🌟3oh lol thars why my sister wants to move there. makes sense now.
quaithe of the shadow asshai3It’s just certain states that I have zero interest in. Idaho is one of them. Not one redeemable thing about that shit
If you are a sick adult and you don’t seek medical help because of your religion, that is called stupidity. If you are a parent and you don’t seek medical help for your sick child because of your religion, that is called homicide.
Mrs. Betty Bowers432UNFUN FACT: Religious extremists who deny medical help to a dying child will tell you they are “pro-life.”
Joanne💋💙🌈 🇨🇦🤝🇺🇸25If praying worked there would be no wars, school shootings or famine. Save your useless prayers. Im so sick of these christofascist extremists shoving their beliefs on the world. Educate yourself beyond your church ffs. 🤬
Pris21religious freaks can murder living children but they want to jail and execute women who have abortions or miscarriages
Melissa Jo Peltier16Weren’t there Christian Science cases in the 60’s & 70’s that created child protective laws around this very issue?
Steve12Hmmmm, I *could* save my dying child, but if I do my "friends" won't like me anymore... I'm not sure what to do.
acleareyedsoul.bsky.social11It’s only homicide if a woman has an unwanted miscarriage
Mark Thompson5Freedom to kill children is a pretty fucking stupid principle to stand on.
Steve R3#Idaho in the news again. @audreydutton.bsky.social ⤵️
NotAllFunnyAndGames3USA Yes, they ARE all crazy.
Kim2THESE PARENTS & THE CULT ARE RESPONSIBLE!!!!
Prof Caroline Mala Corbin2There should be no religious exemptions from child neglect laws when parents' refusal to seek medical care seriously harms their child. Neither the right to control the upbringing of your child nor your religion should be able to trump your child's safety.
Catone85@bluesky2Allowing cults to stand by while innocent children die is murder. Our Constitution and Bill of Rights guarantee that all people should have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The state of Idaho is wrong to allow religion to interfere with with basic human rights.
newmexicanextexan.bsky.social2Fun fact: A couple of President Nixon's top aides were Christian Scientists, who object to modern medicine on theological grounds, & they pushed him to write religious exemptions for parents who medically neglect their children into federal law.
Super disturbing. Almost every year since 2015, Idaho children in a faith-healing sect have died of treatable conditions such as pneumonia and bacterial infections that turned to sepsis. The state just lets it happen. @audreydutton.bsky.social
Noreen Dalton 🌱🍉8And mothers in the developing world would give their right arm for the access to medicine that these people just throw away 🙈🥺
paul-NewEngland5Idaho is mid paleolithic (about 1 million yrs before present).
Carol D5I guarantee you any non-Christian sect doing the exact same thing would be hounded into oblivion.
BillThePony4It's even worse than just letting it happen... Conservatives actively encourage this. Part of the right-wing rewrite of the Constitution has been to elevate the "free exercise" of religion Blocking and declaring unconditional any limits on what a christian says is their free exercise
CascadiaCoug3Yet they will charge a doctor for a life saving abortion
GADFLY: the Practical Heretic2Don't worry, that's going to spread under MAGA.
Oisín McGann20Fuck every parent who does this, they don't deserve children. They deserve to go to prison. And fuck any religion that believes you shouldn't do everything you can to protect your kids. I hope your hell is waiting for you.
tachi5Well past the point of all that being child abuse, right up to the state level.
Nathan S. French2There are *so many* states with these religious shield laws and my 101 students are often genuinely surprised to know it.
"In any Idaho household not steeped in faith-healing, those two deaths would be investigated as crimes." Guess what happened to the families who belong to faith-healing sects. Absolutely outrageous story by @audreydutton.bsky.social
Matthew Moore1A fetus has a right to life, but not a child you see.
Substantial Woman1And their votes count just like ours.
truroad.bsky.social1First how does that jibe with the whole anti-abortion movement? Why aren’t they held accountable for the death of a child? Second, ask them to explain the devoutly religious medical student who prays to God daily for the knowledge and skill to heal the sick? How does their God explain that?
As people in uniform ask Malachi’s parents about his birth, death and the two days in between, members of the family’s church watch from folding chairs. People come and go from the bedroom; one woman cradles a sleeping toddler. In other Idaho households, his death would be investigated as a crime.
Michael D13Thank you for covering this. Especially in light of the crusade against trans kids and their parents, this reality really pisses me off.
Heather Ellsworth4Ugh only made it maybe half way through. Now I & all my coworkers here at the hospital are suuuuper pissed off. Must have been incredibly hard to research & write, Audrey. So thank you.
shockeddaily.bsky.social4Idaho seems to care more about fetuses than about those who moved on to other stages of development.
Josh Hutchinson 🥄2It's a religious exemption for murder
No_ID_Lady2Thank you, Audrey, for your sensitive & 💔 reporting. It never EVER gets easier to read about these continuing tragic & preventable infant & child deaths, but it's so important 😢
Anita Ridlehoover2Great reporting, thank you! So sad.
His Bark Materials🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈🌌82It remains utterly incomprehensible to me that US states allow parents to kill their children through negligence out of religious conviction.
Christopher Farnsworth24This is a radical proposition where I grew up, but: children are not property, and your religion shouldn’t give you the right to kill anyone, by neglect or otherwise.
No_ID_Lady7💔 & OUTSTANDING reporting. It never EVER gets easier to read about these tragic & preventable infant & child deaths, but because I'm actually PRO-CHILD & don't just pretend to be like the #Idaho #GOP #idleg, I do read. And cry. And hope & RAGE that maybe the #idleg will finally act next session.
Idaho Prison Project7Important piece making so many points (mainly that parents should seek medical care for their children). A reminder that "crime" is often political, not a measure of right and wrong.
Suzanne Cummins5"Death After Death: Almost every year since 2015, Idaho children in a faith-healing sect have died of treatable conditions such as pneumonia and bacterial infections that turned to sepsis."
eli shroom's altered ego4tired of this fuckass country where people can have religious exemptions to let their children die slow and horrific deaths, but others get targeted as child abusers for supporting their trans children.
Immanuel Cunt3That’s it I’m becoming a state atheism guy.
“Medical freedom” doesn’t free you from consequences of your decisions. Prayers do not work when you deny the solution in front of you. 🧪 www.propublica.org/article/fait...
Susie Time8The Republicans want to kill as many people as possible
Feral Maui Hermit6Intentionally avoiding medical care for your child and replacing it with prayer should count as premeditated murder. Remaining children should be taken by the state, and the parents should be jailed for life.
RoseMarie5Someone must stand up for those kids. In this instance, parental rights be damned.
figmo4Oh, then but it must have been "God's will", right? What better illustration of self-righteous hypocrisy! They should be charged with manslaughter! That innocent newborn is DEAD because of their refusal to avail themselves of known (or probable) steps that would have permitted that child to live!
CLASSYTEE3HMM…SERIOUSLY, IF THEY WANT TO USE RELIGION, THEN…
Dave.3What a sad waste of life. There should be a test to qualify to be a parent.
“It isn’t necessarily that we’re supposed to have a joyous life here. It’s actually quite the opposite.” -Faith leader Nathan Kangas of Idaho, explaining why he thinks it’s okay for kids to die from treatable diseases when their parents reject medical care for “religious” reasons.
Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD67Idaho has gone full “medical freedom” and these are the results. And it’s not confined to this cult. 17.5% of Idaho kindergarteners had a vaccine exemption last year, so the state is a simmering cauldron of infectious disease.
Cate Sheehan13This is why I think all religious beliefs are a low-key form of mental illness.
EARNED MY SPURS & UNABLE TO CURB MY CUSSING 🐎11Going out on a limb and guessing this 'faith leader' lives in a massive home paid for by his followers.
André Sobolewski9It is not an act of love to let someone die that could easily have been saved: it is an act of ideological cruelty.
The Canoe🇨🇦8American religion is a product we definitely want to pass on up here in the Great White North. It seems to be very bad for your health.
Alex Marten 🇧🇷🇺🇸🇺🇦🇸🇾🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️5This is why I'm a condemned atheist. I live by science alone.
Religious freedom does not include the freedom to let children die. At least 15 Idaho children in a faith-healing sect died from treatable conditions over a decade. State law still shields parents who choose prayer over lifesaving medical care. www.propublica.org/article/fait...
silkskinpaws.bsky.social7The parents involved should be charged with manslaughter or murder.
The Sarcastic Cynic4How ironic, from the "pro-life" ppl too
Allison4You can kill em but you can’t let them be trans 🤦
daciar.bsky.social2So you can let your own child die from medical decisions because "religious reasons". But someone else can't make certain medical decisions for their own child because of "someone else's religious reasons'? 🤔
Aerlumron2I have been aware of these kinds of stories for many decades . . . & it still makes me sick & angry Children have rights away from madness To further the hypocrisy & misguided priorities of our great nation, CPS will go after Mayor Pete for his kids based on an anonymous dubious phone "tip"
A truly disturbing story from @propublica.org's @audreydutton.bsky.social: Kids in a "faith-healing" Christian sect in Idaho have needlessly died because their church forbids medical care GOP lawmakers won't change the law to punish this. www.propublica.org/article/fait...
Stilghar6Reasons #6,742 for the abolition of the Republican Party and #14,975 for the removal of Religious Exemptions from Law.
semperloquatius.bsky.social3This is one of those stories that makes me drift into my dreamy what-would-the-founding-fathers-say-about-this? state. Witchcraft trials had tapered off by the early 1700s; so surely they would be appalled at the colossal stupidity of rejecting known human-made cures.
Idaho children in a faith-healing sect are dying of treatable conditions as state law allows parents to pray rather than seek medical treatment. IMHO this is homicide. #Blues www.propublica.org/article/fait...
Mt Pleasant 🇨🇦 🇩🇪1so you can't abort a pregnancy in Idaho, but you can hold a clearly dying newborn in your lap and watch it suffer and die, and do nothing to stop that suffering and death. got it. well, not really.
The Ill1Prosecution for negligent homicide isn’t incompatible with religious freedom. If your prayers didn’t work and the kid dies, well you should have prayed harder. Off to jail.
Linda Potter1I thought this was illegal.
Linda Potter1Idaho is Gilead. Stay away.
