- Collection:
- Atlanta University and Clark Atlanta University Theses and Dissertations
- Title:
- Faith, medicine, law, politics, and children's lives: a case study of Christian science child faith deaths, 1994
- Creator:
- Herrick, Stephen W.
- Date of Original:
- 1994-07-01
- Subject:
- Degrees, Academic
Dissertations, Academic - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta, 33.749, -84.38798
- Medium:
- theses
- Type:
- Text
- Format:
- application/pdf
- Description:
- Most states have statutes that can be interpreted as exempting Christian Science parents from prosecution when their children die from medically untreated illnesses. Increasingly, however, such parents are prosecuted. This study addresses four questions. One, what is the context of the confrontation between Christian Scientists and the state over child faith deaths? Two, do the statutory exemptions immunize parents from prosecution? Three, are the exemptions constitutional? Four, does forcing parents to provide medical care violate the free exercise clause? The methodology is threefold: (1) description of the conflict's roots; (2) analysis of the issues of immunity and constitutionality; and (3) comparison of the number of deaths of Christian Science children from illnesses with the number of healings of Christian Science children from those illnesses, for the period 1967 to 1993 in the United States. The conflict stems from historical competition within each of three pairs of institutions: church and state, religion and medicine, and family autonomy and child protection. Most exemptions violate the establishment clause. Given the ambiguity as to the scope of the exemptions, prosecution violates due process. It also often violates free exercise by impermissibly inquiring into religious beliefs. Christian Science treatment of five illnesses--bacterial meningitis, diabetes, leg bone cancer, Burkitt's lymphoma, and appendicitis--clearly places children at risk. Forcing parents to provide medical care for other illnesses violates their right to free exercise.
- External Identifiers:
- Metadata URL:
- http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12322/cau.td:1994_herrick_stephen_w.pdf
- Rights Holder:
- Clark Atlanta University
- Holding Institution:
- Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library
- Rights:
-
