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Politics : Should God be replaced? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (2940)	10/29/2000 11:15:36 PM
From: cosmicforce	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 28931

I think if God wasn't bound by the probabilities, we'd see a very different Universe. For example wouldn't you expect Christians live longer on average than atheists? They don't. Maybe God is done with them quicker? spiritone.com Two studies indicate that Christian Science adults have higher mortality rates than the general population. See Simpson, William. "Comparative longevity in a college cohort of Christian Scientists." JAMA 262 (22-29 Sept. 1989): 1657-8 and Simpson, William. "Comparative mortality of two college groups, 1945-83." Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report 40 (23 Aug. 1991): 579-82. CHILD officers Seth Asser and Rita Swan have published a study of 172 deaths of children when medical care was withheld on religious grounds. They found that in 140 of the cases the children would have had at least a 90% likelihood of survival with medical care. The Asser/Swan study is entitled "Child fatalities from religion motivated medical neglect" and appears in the April, 1998, issue of Pediatrics, the official, peer-reviewed journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Sects claiming a religious exemption from immunizations have had outbreaks of polio, measles, whooping cough, and diphtheria. In 1991 there were 492 measles cases in Philadelphia among children associated with Faith Tabernacle and First Century Gospel churches. Six children died. Christian Science schools in the St. Louis area have had four major measles outbreaks between 1985 and 1994. The first included three deaths of young people. The 1994 outbreak spread to children in the general community and cost St. Louis County more than $100,000 to manage. In the first six months of 1994, there were 730 measles cases nationwide. A Christian Science youth was the index patient for 247 of them. The following deaths of Christian Science children in the past twenty years have come to CHILD's attention: 4 of meningitis, 2 of pneumonia, 2 of appendicitis, 5 of diabetes, 2 of diphtheria, 1 of measles, 7 of cancer, 1 of aspiration asphyxiation, 1 of septicemia, 1 of a kidney infection, 1 of a bowel obstruction, and 1 of heart disease. CHILD believes mortality rates among these children are much higher than in the general population although their church will not release membership figures. Since 1973, 65 Faith Assembly children have died of treatable illnesses without medical care. In 1983, the Center for Disease Control and the Indiana Board of Health conducted a study of Faith Assembly members, who shun all medical care including obstetrics. Pregnant women in Faith Assembly were 86 times more likely to die than other expectant mothers in Indiana. The mortality rate of Faith Assembly babies was 270% higher. See Kaunitz, Andrew, Craig Spence et al. "Perinatal and maternal mortality in a religious group avoiding obstetrical care." American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 150 (1 Dec. 1984): 826-31. The Oregonian reports that 78 children have died since 1955 in the Followers of Christ church near Oregon City, a church opposed to medical care. Twelve children have died in an Idaho affiliate of the Followers of Christ. See Mark Larabee and Peter Sleeth, "Faith healing raises questions of law's duty--belief or life?" The Oregonian 7 June 1988: 1.