A day-old- baby has been reported dead, having been denied medical treatment by the parents because of their religious belief.

Sarah and Travis Mitchell, 24 and 21, who are both Christians, were arrested on Monday after an investigation into the death of their daughter, Ginnifer.

Yahoonews states that the mother gave birth to two girls on March 5 in Oregon City, USA; but one of them developed breathing complications a few hours after delivery.

The parents, who are currently facing murder and criminal mistreatment charges, failed to act because of their religious beliefs.

As members of the Followers of Christ Church, they shun modern medicine, preferring to employ prayer and oils in anattempt to heal the sick.

Reports gathered states that the mother of the child had a home birth with family and church members as well as three mid-wives present, but none of them called emergency service till the baby died shortly after birth.
Church elder, Carl Hansen, later contacted the county medical examiner, who said the Mitchells’ surviving daughter needed medical attention and called police.

It was also reported that members of the church have been charged to court often times for failing to seek medical care for their children.


Such church members includeShannon and Dale Hickman, relatives of the accused.

The Hickmans were convicted of manslaughter in 2011 after the death of their son,
David.In Oregon, faith healing has been removed as a legal defence for murder and manslaughter, but still exists in neighbouring Idaho, where the Followers of Christ Church also operates.

It is one of only six states that offer a faith-based shield for these felony crimes.

There are fewer than 2,000 members of the church, whichhas gained notoriety because it practices faith healing and shuns members who seek medical care.

In Oregon, a former state medical examiner has claimed the infant mortality rate within the community is 26 times that of the general population.

In 2014, a Pennsylvania mother and father, who are part of a separate Christian group, were jailed for causing the death of their child by refusing to take him to the doctor.

The boy was the second of Herbert and Catherine Schaible’s children to die under their care.

At the trial, the Philadelphia Judge Benjamin Lerner told the couple: “You’ve killed two of your children… not God, not your church, not religious devotion — you.”


http://punchng.com/sickly-day-old-baby-dies-as-parents-insist-on-faith-healing/

0b100100111:
Am certain they blacks! Whites re not religiously foolish!

They can be a slave to a book they know there ancestors wrote to cajole weaker souls into mental slavery!

Like believers we say, There God has given and taken away the kids

ehn! abeg leave matter for Matthias. Even whites are partakers of this foolishness.

Ignorance

Stupid Judge, Stupid Parents and Stupid Pentecostal Church

FACTS:
1. The Followers of Christ is a small Christian denomination based in the U.S. states of Oklahoma and Oregon and traces its origins to the faith-healing Pentecostal movement of the late 19th century. Church leaders say it was founded about 1880. Walter T. White, the charismatic nephew of one of the early founders, brought a splinter group to Oregon in the 1930s. White died in 1969, and the last of the elders ordained by White died in 1986. The church is not affiliated with a mainstream denomination.
2. With membership of less than 2,000, the church has attracted controversy for its practices of faith healing and the alleged shunning of members who violate church doctrine, including those who seek medical care.
3. According to authorities in Oregon and other places where church members are found, numerous children have suffered premature deaths from treatable causes due to their parents' refusal to seek medical care; a former Oregon state medical examiner claims the infant mortality rate within the Followers of Christ community is 26 times that of the general population.
4. Church members and at least one politician (Idaho state Senator Lee Heider) have argued that parents should have the right to select whatever methods of healing they deem appropriate for their children and that public policy, which requires use of conventional medicine over faith healing, constitutes a violation of freedom of religion. There are no written policies or guidelines on faith healing or other practices.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Followers_of_Christ