Trust in God

Still, Ralph Hood, a University of Chattanooga professor of religion and psychology, is 66 years old and has never been to the doctor. "You can make the argument that medicine produces at least as much illness as it cures," Hood says. "I can think of conditions where—I cut wood, if I took a chainsaw and cut my leg half off, I might go for emergency treatment. Or I might wrap it up myself, and see what I can do."

Stephen Post, a professor of psychiatry and religion at the Center for Medical Humanities at Stony Brook University, says the impersonal nature of modern medicine causes some patients to be attracted to faith healing. People have come to feel like commodities in the health-care system, the "kidney in room three, the infection in room five," Post says. "It's all gotten quite dehumanized." Others worry about medical errors and dangerous infections.

Faith healing has a longevity that predates modern medicine, and recorded history for that matter. In Ecuador, shamans treat the sick with a guinea pig, or cuy, passing it over a patient's upper body to absorb negative energies, even smacking the subject with the rodent. The cuy is then cut open and its insides "read" to diagnose the human patient before prescribing an appropriate remedy. Jehovah's Witnesses believe it better for a child to die than to accept a blood transfusion, and in Christianity, faith healing has been infused into teachings for more than 2,000 years, based largely on descriptions of Jesus healing the sick with touch, prayer and anointing oil. One of the Worthingtons' briefs purports that chiropractic care was founded as a practice based on "received religion wisdom," and notes widespread use of acupuncture in Asian cultures that seeks to channel mystic energy, along with homeopathic medicine in Oregon and elsewhere. "Mr. and Mrs. Worthington's choice of prayer, anointing oil, and laying on of hands, all methods of healing employed by the Great Physician (Jesus), for their family all fall within the gamut of medical treatment options that are legitimately selected and practiced in Oregon," wrote the Worthingtons' attorneys, Mark Cogan and John Neidig, in their brief.

Christian Science is one of the more widely known religions to preach that prayer is a better option than modern medicine, but the church's director of legislative and media affairs, Phil Davis, insists that individual members are free to go to doctors if they wish. The church teaches that trust in God is "challenged" when "material reasoning" gets in the way, says Davis, who has not been to a doctor since military service in the 1970s required it. Doctors and modern medicine interfere with "the beauty of being able to put complete faith in God," according to church doctrine. The idea is to heal so effectively through prayer that there's no need for a conventional approach, Davis says.

When it comes to children, Davis says the church's standard is a little different, however. "When you're thinking of another life, not your own, it's a higher responsibility," he explains. "The healing needs to take place quickly, and results matter. The life of a child is paramount."

The police asked Carl Worthington if he thought that Ava could die. Yes, the father answered. And when Worthington considered that horrible possibility, what did he do? "We kept praying," he said. In the state of Oregon, prosecutors say that wasn't enough.

© 2009