Fundies "cure" autistic boy

[Jack the Bodiless]

CNN: Autistic boy dies at faith healing service

This is a somewhat sanitized version of events. This was no "faith healing": this was an exorcism. The cause of death was asphyxiation, apparently caused by someone sitting on the kid's chest.

A later CNN article: Autistic boy's death at church ruled homicide

Another article: Boy's death ruled homicide

"Didn't do nothing wrong," David Hemphill said outside his home Sunday afternoon, with the sounds of yelling and moaning from his gathered flock plainly audible from his front steps. "We did what the Book of Matthew said, Chapter 12. All we did is ask God to deliver him."...

...He also said the child's death would not change the way the church operates, saying: "How you going to change the Bible?"

The boy had a spirit in him, the pastor said. Asked how he knew that, he said: "I'm 62 years old, and I can tell a person that's not normal."

An alleged quote from Hemphill that these sources left out:

"The boy just had a problem in his mind, and what we were doing was asking God to fix it," Hemphill said. "He chose to fix it by taking him back home to Him."

So the cure worked! He isn't autistic anymore! Halleluia!

It seems pretty clear to me that this kid was tortured to death, even if his torturers didn't intend to actually kill him. And that Hemphill is a dangerous lunatic who deserves to go to prison for a very long time. His only possible defense is insanity.

But will a Milwaukee jury see it that way?

To what extent is religion a legitimate excuse for behavior that wouldn't be tolerated otherwise?

[Urban Ranger]

None. Religion is not above the law.

[reds4ever]

If that had of happened in Haiti they'd be calling it Voodoo, it's scary people still believe crap like that

[Spiffor]

What UR said
This is torture and unintentional homicide. This deserves all the jailtime it can get

[Kuciwalker]

It probably deserves more jailtime than it can get

stupid freaks

[Sava]

Put them in the cell that the pedophile priest had... it's vacant.

[Kuciwalker]

Make them die by their own methods.

[Q Classic]

shoot them in the lung, and then take them to a faith healing service.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Re: Fundies "cure" autistic boy

Originally posted by Jack the Bodiless
But will a Milwaukee jury see it that way?

In all likelihood, yes. The dominant religious makeup of Milwaukee is Lutheran, with some Episcopalians and Catholics thrown in, and a relatively low proportion of hard core fundamentalist types. This guy will be seen as a frootloop by Milwaukee's mainstream religious standards, and their juries aren't a lot different from anywhere else in the US.

[Shi Huangdi]

This almost seems like a certain conviction for unintentional homicide, though I suppose the prosecution could try for more claiming a reasonable person should know what the pastor was doing could easily kill the boy.

What I am interested in is will the mainstream fundamentalist community rally behind the murderers, or will they condemn it?

[Cruddy]

Casting out devils eh?

Shame the Bible doesn't actually have a "HOW TO" section. Any old fvckwit can have a go.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi
What I am interested in is will the mainstream fundamentalist community rally behind the murderers, or will they condemn it?

Unfortunately, faith healing is big among the fundies. It's nasty, some would't even go to the doctors for treatment.

[MrFun]

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi
This almost seems like a certain conviction for unintentional homicide, though I suppose the prosecution could try for more claiming a reasonable person should know what the pastor was doing could easily kill the boy.

What I am interested in is will the mainstream fundamentalist community rally behind the murderers, or will they condemn it?

Nah -- there are too many white fundamentalists focused on the evil people in the world called homosexuals.

This issue will not get their notice.

[Sava]

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi
This almost seems like a certain conviction for unintentional homicide, though I suppose the prosecution could try for more claiming a reasonable person should know what the pastor was doing could easily kill the boy.

What I am interested in is will the mainstream fundamentalist community rally behind the murderers, or will they condemn it?

Personally, I don't think ignorance should be a defense or excuse for murder.

[Shi Huangdi]

"Unfortunately, faith healing is big among the fundies. It's nasty, some would't even go to the doctors for treatment."

Right. Reminds me of a case awhile back where a fundamentalist got into a car accident with a drunk driver. Medical personnel arrived on time but because of the fundies' religion treatment was refused and the fundie died. The Prosecution tried to charge the drunk driver for killing the fundie, but the defense argued that the driver didn't kill the fundie, as the damages would not have been enough to kill if the wounds were treated, therefore it was the refusal of treatment and not the drunk driver that was responsible for the death. The jury acquitted the drunk driver of killing the fundie(though they did convict him of drunk driving), and so the defendant went to jail for less time.

So, mainstream Americans have little sympathy for this fundamentalist BS, though I suspect the defense in this case will try to make sure the jury has as many fundies as possible.(I wonder if they may try for a change of venue to rural Winsconsin where there are more fundies?) It takes a unanimous vote of the jury to convict, so as long as the defense could produce one hard-line fundie on any jury they produced, it could be very difficult to convict this guy.