Oregon takes a stand against faith healing

In Oregon, faith healing has been a legitimate legal protection against certain kinds of homicide charges. Yesterday, the Oregon state House voted unanimously in favor of a bill that would remove that special protection, and stipulate mandatory sentencing for parents whose children died because the parents chose to give those children faith healing rather than medical treatment. Basically, you can make the choice yourself as an adult, but you can’t choose to deny life-saving treatment to your kids. The bill’s sponsors say that, in the past two years alone, two Oregon children have died, and another was severely disfigured, when those children’s parents denied them medical care.