Bad Faith: When Religious Belief Undermines Modern Medicine

270 Pages·2015·4.44 MB·English

by  Paul Offit

BAD FAITH
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Also by Paul A. Offit, M.D.
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BAD FAITH
When Religious Belief
Undermines Modern Medicine
PAUL A. OFFIT, M.D.
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
New York
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Copyright © 2015 by Paul A. Offit, M.D.
Published by Basic Books, A Member of the Perseus Books Group
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this
book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission
except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For
information, address Basic Books, 250 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10107.
Books published by Basic Books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases
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information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books
Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA 19103, or call
[phone], ext. 5000, or e-mail [email protected].
Design by Cynthia Young in Adobe Garamond Pro
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Offit, Paul A., author.
Bad faith : when religious belief undermines modern medicine / Paul A. Offit.
p. ; cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-465-04061-2 (e-book)
I. Title.
[DNLM: 1. Religion and Medicine. 2. Child Welfare. 3. Faith Healing.
4. Treatment Refusal. BL 65.M4]
BL65.M4
201.661—dc23
2014041626
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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To all those who perform good deeds
in the name of their faith
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Verily, I say unto you,
Inasmuch as you have done it unto
one of the least of my brethren
you have done it unto me.
—Matthew 25:40
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CONTENTS
Introduction: At the Crossroads ix
1 “The Very Worst Thing” 1
2 A Fragile Magic 19
3 A Vengeful God 33
4 The Faith Healer Next Door 43
5 The Literal and the Damned 59
6 Dialogue of the Deaf 75
7 Do Unto Others 91
8 Ungodly Acts 113
9 The Miracle Business 129
10 The Peculiar People 145
11 The Divine Whisper 163
12 Standing Up 177
Epilogue: “The Frail Web of Understanding” 195
Notes 199
Selected Bibliography 225
Acknowledgments 231
Index 233
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INTRODUCTION:
AT THE CROSSROADS
“I went down to the crossroads, fell down on my knees.
Asked the Lord above for mercy, ‘Save me, if you please.’”
—Robert Johnson
On April 13, 2013, Brandon Schaible, the seven-month-old
son of Herbert and Catherine Schaible, died. For several days,
Brandon had suffered from pneumonia. The Schaibles prayed, but to
no avail. At 8:00 p.m., they called caretakers at the John F. Fluery &
Sons Funeral Home, who called the county medical examiner, who
called the police. Paramedics rushed to the house and pronounced
the child dead.
It wasn’t the first time the Schaibles had lost a child to a treatable
illness. A few years earlier, in 2009, the Schaibles had also chosen
prayer instead of antibiotics for their two-year-old son, Kent, when
he contracted bacterial pneumonia.
Herbert and Catherine Schaible are members of the First-
Century Gospel Church, a faith healing group in northeast Phila-
delphia that relies on the advice given in James 5:14–15: Is anyone
among you sick? Let him call the elders of the church to pray over him
and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered
in faith will make the sick person well. After Kent died, Herbert said,
“We tried to fight the Devil, but the Devil won.”
Every year, tens of thousands of Americans refuse medical care
for their children in the name of God.
ix
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