Last Tuesday, Feb. 2, the parents of a 16-year-old boy named Neil Beagley were convicted of criminally negligent homicide in an Oregon City, Ore., courtroom after the teenager died from complications of a urinary tract infection, according to an article from The Washington Post.

Doctors in the case testified that Neil’s condition was treatable, and he most likely would have lived had proper medical treatment been administered.

Instead, Neil’s parents, Jeff and Marcy Beagley, insisted until the day Neil died in June of 2008 he would be healed by the power of God.  

So much for the power of good intentions.

The Beagleys are part of a fundamentalist Christian sect called The Followers of Christ Church in Oregon City.  The sect’s members shun modern medicine and in its place rely on the power of prayer and anointment with oil to heal their sick.  

Before I get any further with this column, I want to make clear this will not be a vitriolic denouncement of the power of prayer or religion in general.  A person’s beliefs are just that: their own.  I have no right to attempt to stomp all over them.

However, when those beliefs begin to have consequences in the world that we all share, then they become fair game.  Especially when those beliefs cause the death of a 16-year-old boy.  

The first thing about this story that turns my stomach is the Beagleys’ absolute disregard for science and evidence-based medicine.  What made them think that God’s gifts are found in the words of prayers desperately aimed skyward and not in the hands of talented medical doctors?

The Beagleys, and everyone reading this for that matter, needed only to think of one thing: science would have been there for them.  No matter how they feel they may have sinned in the eyes of their God in the past, science will always be there for them, just as it will be for all of us.

Science does not sit in judgment, nor does it impose punishments.  On the contrary, science is the result of the collective efforts of people who want to make all our lives better.      

As tragic as Neil’s death is, the most heart-wrenching and infuriating part for me lies deeper inside this story.  If this had happened 11 years ago, the Beagleys would not have even been put on trial.  

Prior to 1999 in Oregon, a law existed that exempted faith-healing parents from criminal charges in the event of any deaths of their children caused by inadequate medical care, according to a Time magazine article from 1998.  

That’s correct.  As recently as 1999, parents in Oregon could deny their children medical care that would actually have an effect in favor of prayer and anointing with oil and face no legal repercussions if their child died.

Fortunately, Oregon has since risen out of the Dark Ages and currently has a law in place that allows faith healing as legal treatment for illness but requires additional medical treatment if a child is involved.  

Unfortunately, this law did not come in time to save the lives of dozens of Oregon City children. From 1989 to 1998, doctors in Oregon estimate as many as 25 children may have died due to illnesses that were mistreated by the efforts of their faith-healing parents, according to the Time article.    

The members of the Followers of Christ Church cite religious freedom as an explanation for their reliance on faith healing, according to the articles.  They think they have a right, as U.S. citizens, to try to heal their children in accordance with their specific religious beliefs.  

But how many children have to die before they realize that prayer, in most cases, doesn’t work as a replacement for proper medical treatment?  50? 100?  

Religious freedom in this country deals with beliefs.  When those beliefs start bringing harm to defenseless children—­children who place their trust in their parents—then the government needs to step in on the side of those being harmed.

What faith healers of any denomination need to realize is this: prayer has a shoddy track record when it comes to healing the sick.  Science may not be able to provide all the answers when it comes to the world in which we live, but when you need to get better, there really isn’t a better game in town.

Jeremy Schwartz is a news/editorial journalism major. He is minoring in philosophy and Latin. Contact Jeremy at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  

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