| Death by faith healing gets a misdemeanor in Tennessee May 9th 2012, 16:30 http://www.secularnewsdaily.com/2012...+News+Daily%29 So, killing by religious idiocy is just a misdemeanour there... Quote:
A travesty in Tennessee, as a neglectful mother and her lover/spiritual advisor get probation as punishment for allowing a teenager to die of cancer without medical treatment.
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A decade-long court dispute over a child neglect case that spawned a legal battle over faith healing, ended Tuesday with two guilty convictions for the girls' mother and friend — Jacqueline Crank and her spiritual leader Ariel Ben Sherman
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WBIR in Knoxville, Tennessee, reports:
Jacqueline Crank and her spiritual leader, Ariel Sherman, were sentenced to 11 months, 29 days of unsupervised probation. Crank's daughter, Jessica, died of a rare form of cancer in 2002. Tuesday, the two were both found guilty of misdemeanor child neglect. Sherman and Crank say they will appeal the conviction.
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| Originally charged in 2002 with felony charges of aggravated child abuse and neglect, the pair found those charges dismissed and replaced with a misdemeanor.
Sherman, who lived with Crank and provided her "spiritual misguidance", which reportedly included telling her that "faith" would heal her daughter, tried to buck the charges by claiming that he was not Jessica's legal guardian and did not have authority to take her to the hospital for treatment.
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The case began when Sherman moved his Universal Life Church flock to a six-bedroom house in Loudon County. There, he lived with Crank, her two children, Jessica and Israel, and a half-dozen other parishioners. Sherman held himself out as the "spiritual father" of Crank's children and was reportedly Crank's lover.
| When Jessica developed a tumor on her shoulder, Sherman advised Crank to rely on prayer. Although she took Jessica to a local clinic at one point, the mother ultimately decided to rely on faith. Authorities intervened but Jessica died anyway.
The court was not swayed by Sherman's attempt to dodge his responsibility in the case. At no point did Sherman tell Crank that Jessica needed medical treatment, though he was her "spiritual advisor" and certainly in a position to insist, with great influence, that treatment was necessary. He, like Crank, was found guilty on the misdemeanor charges.
This will serve as a test case at the Tennessee Supreme Court, where an existing law granting parents the right to refuse medical care for their children in favor of chanting, anointing with oil, burning sage, or sacrificing parakeets will be challenged.
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State law allows a parent to choose faith over medicine provided that parent is heeding the doctrine of a "recognized church or denomination." But the law is silent on what constitutes a "recognized" religion. Isaacs argued Tuesday Crank's belief in the power of prayer is rooted in "genuine" faith.
Sherman's case turns on how far a duty of care for a child extends. Can a boyfriend be held liable? A baby sitter? A pastor? Bosch noted at Tuesday's hearing that only a parent or legal guardian is allowed under the law to authorize medical treatment for a child.
| Tennessee's ridiculous law needs to be repealed. Christian Science is a recognized denomination, and eschews medical treatment in favor of prayer. Scientology is a recognized religion, and denies psychological counseling in favor of "e-meter auditing".
There is no evidence whatsoever that prayer, magic, or wishful thinking of any sort will heal a disease. In fact, there is evidence to the contrary.
<read the rest at the link>
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