In Gustav's example with the Schaibles, I clearly made the point that the Schaibles were citizens and as such subject to the law, and I agreed with the verdict that US court made in their case.
yes and you were responding to this......
The right to practice religion freely does not include the right to expose the community or the child to communicable disease or the latter to ill-health or death…
Parents may be free to become martyrs themselves. But it does not follow they are free, in identical circumstances, to make martyrs of their children before they have reached the age of full and legal discretion when they can make that choice for themselves. (Prince v. Massachusetts)
now
do you agree that they were actually putting in to practice, certain tenets of the christian religion that led them to the predicament they found themselves in?
The District Attorney said the parents "put their faith before acting in the best interest of their son."
That appears to be the case, but I am not sure what exactly was religious about the faith of those parents, other than the name..
you do seem to have difficulties in comprehending scripture and its application so lets try an easier example.....could one assume that the ten commandments inspires christians to lead a moral life? would that be a hard or easy association? i mean we can never absolutely be sure but we can at the very least assign a likelihood and probability of that being the case.
again, divine healing is extrapolated from biblical scripture. specific texts are cited as the basis for a practice by certain churches of the christian faith.
Herbert and Catherine Schaible told police and a city social worker shortly after Kent died on Jan. 24, 2009, that they had prayed for his recovery for about 10 days rather than seek medical help because of their religious beliefs.
in this instance, the schiables seem fairly religious to me if that account is accurate and i really find no reason to doubt that bit of testimony
I do believe in prayer, and I believe that one ought to pray to become aligned with God's will:
"Dear Lord, please engage me in Your service."
Turning to God with the request "God, do this for me" or something to the effect of "God, I am going to do this in Your name, as a service to You, and You better be happy with it"
is not in the spirit of service to God.
sounds like a personal peccadillo to me. we must have some common ground for the purposes of this discussion and actual scripture from the major faiths seems to meet this requirement as well as a commonly held interpretation of such. for instance.....
Question: "What is intercessory prayer?"
Answer: Quite simply, intercessory prayer is the act of praying on behalf of others. The role of mediator in prayer was prevalent in the Old Testament, in the cases of Abraham, Moses, David, Samuel, Hezekiah, Elijah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. Christ is pictured in the New Testament as the ultimate intercessor, and because of this, all Christian prayer becomes intercession since it is offered to God through and by Christ. Jesus closed the gap between us and God when He died on the cross. Because of Jesus’ mediation, we can now intercede in prayer on behalf of other Christians or for the lost, asking God to grant their requests according to His will. “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). “Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Romans 8:34).
A wonderful model of intercessory prayer is found in Daniel 9. It has all the elements of true intercessory prayer. It is in response to the Word (v. 2); characterized by fervency (v. 3) and self-denial (v. 4); identified unselfishly with God’s people (v. 5); strengthened by confession (v. 5-15); dependent on God’s character (vv. 4, 7, 9, 15); and has as its goal God’s glory (vv. 16-19). Like Daniel, Christians are to come to God on behalf of others in a heartbroken and repentant attitude, recognizing their own unworthiness and with a sense of self-denial. Daniel does not say, “I have a right to demand this out of You, God, because I am one of your special, chosen intercessors.” He says, “I'm a sinner,” and, in effect, “I do not have a right to demand anything.” True intercessory prayer seeks not only to know God’s will and see it fulfilled, but to see it fulfilled whether or not it benefits us and regardless of what it costs us. True intercessory prayer seeks God’s glory, not our own.
The following is only a partial list of those for whom we are to offer intercessory prayers: all in authority (1 Timothy 2:2); ministers (Philippians 1:19); the church (Psalm 122:6); friends (Job 42:8); fellow countrymen (Romans 10:1); the sick (James 5:14); enemies (Jeremiah 29:7); those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44); those who forsake us (2 Timothy 4:16); and all men (1 Timothy 2:1).
There is an erroneous idea in contemporary Christianity that those who offer up intercessory prayers are a special class of “super-Christians,” called by God to a specific ministry of intercession. The Bible is clear that all Christians are called to be intercessors. All Christians have the Holy Spirit in their hearts and, just as He intercedes for us in accordance with God’s will (Romans 8:26-27), we are to intercede for one another. This is not a privilege limited to an exclusive Christian elite; this is the command to all. In fact, not to intercede for others is sin. “As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you” (1 Samuel 12:23).
...that indicates we can assign that form of prayer as central to the christian faith while your beliefs in this matter is very much an outlier.
also please understand that within the context and tenor of this thread, the schaibles could hardly have been said to have directed "*religiously* motivated violence " towards the child. willful negligence is not physical violence per se. it is why manslaughter was the charge leveled at them.
