Free Republic

"It ain't going to be easy," DeSantis said about taking a stand against the Left at last weekend’s Faith & Freedom Coalition's Road to Majority Conference. "You got to be strong. You got to put on the full armor of God. You got to take a stand, take a stand against the Left's schemes. You got to stand your ground. You got to be firm. You will face flaming arrows but take up the shield of faith and fight on." "So, I look forward to joining with you in the battles to come," he said. "I can tell you that...

A Christian megachurch in California is soliciting prayers and US$100,000 in donations on behalf of two of its members, who are holding out hope that Jesus will “resurrect” their recently deceased toddler. Kalley and Andrew Heiligenthal say their daughter, Olive Alayne, passed away on Dec. 14 at the age of two. Kalley is a well-known singer at the Bethel megachurch in Redding, Calif., and she shared the news of her family tragedy with her 262,000 followers on Instagram Sunday. “We’re asking for prayer. We believe in a Jesus who died and conclusively defeated every grave, holding the keys to resurrection...

According to several eyewitness reports coming out of Benny Hinn’s “This Is Your Day” revival event Thursday, the faith healer and televangelist performed yet another miraculous healing, this time instantly and completely removing a large growth from an attendee’s purse. Hinn reportedly paused during the service, sensing the Spirit’s call to interrupt his Bible-based teaching to walk into the crowd and speak with a woman in the third row. “I sense… I sense you have swelling, somewhere… somewhere in your—your purse? It’s your purse, my dear lady, isn’t it?” Hinn intoned, squinting his eyes as he drew on his powerful...

In America, 43 of the 50 U.S. states confer some type of civil or criminal immunity on parents who injure their children by withholding medical care on religious grounds. If your child has diabetes or a severe infection, and you pray for her instead of giving her insulin or antibiotics, she’ll probably die, but you’re largely off the legal hook. But that immunity doesn’t apply if you injure your child by withholding medical care for nonreligious reasons; for that, you can be prosecuted for neglect, abuse, or even manslaughter. This privileging of religion is dangerous to children—and has killed many...

MIAMI, - Authorities in Florida said they are investigating the alleged illegal importing of giant African snails for use in a religious healing ritual. A search warrant filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court said state and federal investigators raided the home of Charles Stewart, 48, in January after receiving information that he was keeping a large box full of the snails, which are only allowed in the United States with special permits for scientific research, the Miami Herald reported Thursday. Federal authorities said they began investigating Stewart in November after receiving complaints that he was feeding the juices from the snails...

Controversial televangelist Pat Robertson recently told a viewer that he has cured deafness through prayer in the past and that he did not know what she was "doing wrong" in her effort to do the same. On a Wednesday episode of the Christian Broadcasting Network program "The 700 Club," Robertson received a letter during the "Bring it on" segment from the mother of a deaf child. "My son is hearing impaired and cannot hear at all. I have prayed for his healing; it seems as if God is hearing-impaired. What am I doing wrong?" read the letter, signed by a...

A Clackamas County judge sentenced the couple found guilty of second-degree manslaughter in their infant son's death to more than six years in prison, rejecting their entreaties for mercy and saying their son's fate could have been easily avoided. A jury in September unanimously found Dale and Shannon Hickman, of the Followers of Christ church, guilty in the death of their son, David Hickman, who lived for less than nine hours. He was born approximately two months premature and weighed less than four pounds. After standing and hugging each other, both Hickmans were led out of the courtroom in handcuffs...

SALEM – Prosecutors and lawmakers endorsed a bill Monday that would remove all legal protection for parents who rely on faith healing rather than provide medical treatment to their children. Clackamas County District Attorney John Foote and others told the House Judiciary Committee that House Bill 2721 would help prevent needless deaths. The bill was a response to the Followers of Christ, an Oregon City church with a long history of children dying from treatable medical conditions. HB 2721 would remove spiritual treatment as a defense for all homicide charges and subject parents to mandatory sentencing under Oregon's Measure...

OREGON CITY -- A Beavercreek couple who left their infant daughter's fate to God rather than seek medical treatment for a mass that grew over her left eye will face charges of first-degree criminal mistreatment. Prosecutors revealed Thursday during a custody hearing that a grand jury has indicted Timothy and Rebecca Wyland, members of Oregon City's Followers of Christ church. The Wylands' 7-month-old daughter, Alayna, was placed in state custody earlier this month after child-welfare workers received a tip about the untreated and ballooning growth. Doctors said that the condition could cause permanent damage or loss of vision. The Wylands...

A judge Wednesday refused to return a 7-month-old girl to her parents, members of an Oregon City church that embraces faith healing, after hearing testimony that the child could lose vision in one eye because she didn't get medical care. Details of the child's condition emerged during a four-hour Clackamas County Circuit Court hearing.   The parents, Timothy and Rebecca Wyland, asked Judge Douglas V. Van Dyk to return the child, now in foster care, and promised that they would provide whatever treatment was required by the court or the state Department of Human Services. But Van Dyk denied the...

OREGON CITY -- Clackamas County Circuit Court Judge Steven Maurer sentenced Jeffrey and Marci Beagley to 16 months in prison this afternoon, calling the couple’s decision to not seek medical care for their 16-year-old son, Neil Beagley, a “crime that was a product of an unwillingness to respect the boundaries of freedom of expression.” Marci Beagley sobbed as the sentencing was being read, and shortly after, defense attorney Wayne Mackeson objected to the sentence. Jeffrey and Marci Beagley were found guilty of criminally negligent homicide after a two-week trial that focused on the death of 16-year-old Neil Beagley, who died...

2:58 p.m. A Clackamas County jury found Jeffrey and Marci Beagley guilty today of criminally negligent homicide for failing to seek medical care for their 16-year-old son Neil Beagley. Instead of taking their son to a doctor when he became ill, the Beagleys treated him with faith healing – prayer, anointing with oil and laying on of hands. The Beagleys could face a maximum of 10 years in prison. Because the two have no prior convictions, the normal sentencing range under state sentencing guidelines would be 16 to 18 months in prison. Neil Beagley died on June 17, 2008, of...

The Oregon City parents charged with criminally negligent homicide in the faith-healing death of their teenage son will ask a judge to dismiss the charges because they followed the advice of state child welfare workers. Attorneys for Jeff and Marci Beagley also contend the law is unconstitutionally vague. The Beagleys belong to the Followers of Christ, an Oregon City church that relies solely on spiritual healing and rejects doctors and medicine. The hearing today in Clackamas County Circuit Court will preview some of the prosecution and defense arguments but won't delve into medical evidence. Attorneys also will revisit issues that...

Want an eye-opening perspective on those in Congress and the Obama administration who want the government to control America’s health care system? Then consider the motivations and mindsets of a group that would have been helped by a provision that was stripped from the House bill but that could find its way into the Senate bill. The provision would require the government to use taxpayer funds to pay for faith healers. Yes folks, you read it right! Specifically, Christian Scientists run telephone prayer hotlines. Individuals call in requesting that operators offer pleas to God to heal them or their loved...

On the last day of Kent Schaible's life, his parents and pastor intensely prayed over his 32-pound body, which, unbeknown to them, was ravaged by bacterial pneumonia. When the 2-year-old boy finally died at 9:30 p.m. Jan. 24 inside the family's Northeast Philadelphia home, the pastor called a funeral director to take the boy's remains to the Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office. At no time that day, nor in the week-and-a-half prior, did Herbert and Catherine Schaible seek medical treatment for their son despite his sore throat, congestion, liquid bowel movements, sleeplessness and trouble swallowing, Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore said...

WAUSAU, Wis. – A central Wisconsin man accused of killing his 11-year-old daughter by praying instead of seeking medical care was found guilty Saturday of second-degree reckless homicide. Dale Neumann, 47, was convicted in the March 23, 2008, death of his daughter, Madeline, from undiagnosed diabetes. Prosecutors contended he should have rushed the girl to a hospital because she couldn't walk, talk, eat or drink. Instead, Madeline died on the floor of the family's rural Weston home as people surrounded her and prayed. Someone called 911 when she stopped breathing. (snip) Neumann, who once studied to be a Pentecostal minister,...

Carl Brent Worthington was sentenced today to 60 days in jail and five years probation for failing to provide adequate medical care for his 15-month-old daughter. Clackamas County Circuit Judge Steven Maurer also will require regular medical checkups for Worthington's surviving child, a 5-year-old girl, and a post-birth medical examination of the child he and his wife are expecting. In the long history of child deaths associated with faith-healing practices of the Followers of Christ Church in Oregon City, Worthington is the first church member to be convicted of a crime. Addressing the defendant as well as a courtroom full...

A jury today found Carl Worthington guilty of criminal mistreatment in the death of his 15-month-old daughter, the first conviction under a 1999 state law passed to protect the children of parents who believe in treating illness solely with faith healing. Carl and Raylene Worthington were acquitted of all other charges. Carl Worthington, 29, and Raylene Worthington, 26, had both been charged with second-degree manslughter and criminal mistreatment. The criminal mistreatment charge carries a sentence of up to one year in jail. After hearing 12 days of testimony from 21 witnesses, it took the jury more than a week...

"Don't be naive," prosecutor Greg Horner advised jurors during his closing arguments today in Clackamas County Circuit Court. Carl Brent and Raylene Worthington are not "monsters or demons," but they should be held responsible for letting their child die, he said. The fates of the Worthingtons are now in the hands of 12 Clackamas County jurors. The couple are charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminal mistreatment for failing to provide adequate care for their 15-month-old daughter, Ava, who died of bronchial pneumonia and a blood infection in March 2008. As Horner showed jurors photographs of Ava taken just moments...

Randy L. Rasmussen/The OregonianCarl and Raylene Worthington held hands as they observed the opening of their trial Monday in Oregon City. The couple, who favor faith healing over medical treatment, face criminal charges in the death of their 15-month-old daughter. OREGON CITY -- Prosecution and defense attorneys differed sharply Monday on what led to the death of 15-month-old Ava Worthington. Ava, malnourished and in obvious distress, "died a needless death" because her parents, Raylene and Carl Brent Worthington, failed to provide adequate medical care, said Greg Horner, chief deputy district attorney."This child had a cold, and it didn't appear...