Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site akgua.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!floyd!clyde!burl!ulysses!unc!mcnc!akgua!rjb From: rjb@akgua.UUCP (R.J. Brown [Bob]) Newsgroups: net.religion Subject: Government vs. Religion, Indiana Style Message-ID: <818@akgua.UUCP> Date: Thu, 7-Jun-84 13:16:05 EDT Article-I.D.: akgua.818 Posted: Thu Jun 7 13:16:05 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 9-Jun-84 07:48:43 EDT Organization: AT&T Technologies/Bell Labs, Atlanta Lines: 91 Subject: - UPI Article on "82 have died at cult based on faith healing" Quoted in part without permission... Fort Wayne, Ind. - "Seventeen more deaths have occcurred among members of the Faith Assembly, a northern Indiana sect that urges its members to avoid doctors and rely on faith for healing, newspaper documents show The sect has averaged about one preventable death a month since 1978,... ...several infant deaths following unattended deliveries. Dan Foley, administrative assistant to the attorney general... `Until officials take the bull by the horns and say enough is enough ,we respect your religious beliefs but they are not your children's beliefs, those deaths are going to continue.' `It's one thing to have religious immunity for yourself. Men and women make that decision every day. Our feeling is children are put in the position of not having the information, the experience, the knowledge, the age, the experience to make those decisions.' A new law took effect Friday (ED. in Indiana) which requires parents with religious objections to medical care to report their children's illnesses to child welfare officials. Foley said Atty. Gen'l Linley Pearson is convinced prosecutors can file criminal charges against parents who refuse to give their children medical care." ******************************************************************* Looking at the way totaltarians view children in society is very in- structive relative to the Indiana Law. Hitler maintained that children belonged to the state and that is also a well established principle in the "Constitution" (gag, choke) of the USSR. Who "owns" my kids ? I believe that the Government DOES NOT own my children and neither do I. My wife and I are stewards of my three boys and we WILL answer to God for our stewardhip. I will resist on almost any level I can the Government interference in that stewardship. Healing - I believe that all healing whether miraculous or medical comes from God. He designed our bodies to be well. The only qualif- ier I put on "healing" is that it not be occultic or satanic in nature. My personal test for that would be "Is God getting the Glory for the healing ?" and "Is any Fruit of the Spirit being manifested ?" Glorifying the Lord and producing the Fruit of the Spirit are two things the devil won't do and can't do respectively. If you look at the quotes from the Indiana official you can hear the echoes of the Third Reich loud and clear. I think Faith Assembly folks are wrong in their position to reject all medical help but they should have that right. The sticky problem is we allow the Government (usually state or local) to intrude in cases of overt "child abuse" like battering and sexual misconduct and once in the arena the Government tends to redefine the term "abuse". I think that's the case in the Indiana situation. Pamela Hamilton, the young Tennessee girl with cancer, had a similar experience over the past year with court ordered chemotherapy. Her father, a minister in another similar sect, made remarks reminiscent of the German experience "They came for the Jews and I was not a Jew so I did nothing.." I urge opposition to these laws even though it opens up the probability that innocent children will suffer because of parental foolishness. Freedom, to be meaningful, must include the freedom to be badly wrong even to the detriment of others. Of course there are accountability systems built into our society ( courts etc.) so that we have that razor edge balance between freedom and responsibility. Your Turn Bob Brown {...ihnp4!akgua!rjb} AT&T Technologies, Inc.............. Norcross, Ga (404) 447-3784 ... Cornet 583-3784