Because they belong to a twisted, messed up group of god followers who turn to prayer rather than lifesaving medicine – medicine that likely would have cured their daughter – they don’t think they broke the law when their god didn’t heal their kid.
The couple belongs to the Oregon City’s Followers of Christ Church, which believes in faith healing and has a policy forbidding its members from using traditional medicine or seeking professional medical care to treat illnesses.
A motion filed in Clackamas County Circuit Court by the Worthington’s lawyers on Wednesday asked the judge to drop the charges, contending that they infringe upon their freedom of religious worship.
“Mr. and Mrs. Worthington maintain that their prosecution contravenes their right ‘to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences,’ as guaranteed by the Constitution of the State of Oregon and the Constitution of the United States,” the motion stated.
“Further, Mr. and Mrs. Worthington urge that this prosecution contravenes their fundamental right to raise their children without interference by the State.”
Another couple from the same church, Jeffrey Dean Beagley and his wife, Marci Rae, also face criminal charges in the death of their son. They face negligent homicide charges after 16-year-old Neil Beagley died from a kidney and heart failure as a result of a urinary tract blockage, which could have been prevented by the insertion of a catheter, according to medical examiners. The teenage boy, a relative of Ava, died on June 18, just three months after Ava’s death.
Because they’re lifelong members of this ridiculous church, they think the charges should be dropped – the manslaughter ones at least. This is their lawyer’s reasoning -
In the motion filed Wednesday, the couple’s attorneys argued that the manslaughter charges should be dismissed because the 1999 legislation “was enacted as a result of hostility toward the Church of which Mr. and Mrs. Worthington are lifelong members.”
Lawyers for the couple also said the term “adequate medical care” was too vague and should not be applied to the case.
“The Worthington family’s decision to select religious ‘medical care’ is protected in the same way Oregon must protect a Chinese-American family’s right to use Eastern medical care, as that of a Canadian-American family to rely on homeopathic care, a Native American family’s right to rely on traditional Indian medicine, and all the other diverse people who inhabit Oregon,” the motion argued.
Overall, I think there are serious concerns over every “alternative” therapy listed there. I’m bemused by them accusing Canadians of being homeopaths though. I’d rather go to a doctor than put faith in that kind of fluffy pseudoscience. I also think there’s a difference when people have choice in the matter. People sucked into homeopathy are making a choice, even if it’s not really informed. They choose to damage their own bodies by not taking their cases to a trained physician. These kids that died didn’t have the choice. They couldn’t say no. They couldn’t ask for medicine. No choice in what was going to happen to them. Their parents failed to keep them alive on purpose.
Why would anyone believe in prayer to cure disease? The child died. Whether or not they think they are murderers, it’s still child endangerment, it’s still child abuse, it’s still willful negligence. They’re no different than that Nigerian witchdoctor, in my mind. He and that couple behaved according to idiotic superstitions and lives were lost.
I hope the judge is not lenient with these people, religious upbringing or no.
