When Prayer Fails: Faith Healing, Children, and the Law - Hardcover

Peters, Shawn Francis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 019530635X ISBN 13: 9780195306354

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2007

Synopsis

Relying on religious traditions that are as old as their faith itself, many devout Christians turn to prayer rather than medicine when their children fall victim to illness or injury. Faith healers claim that their practices are effective in restoring health - more effective, they say, than modern medicine. But, over the past century, hundreds of children have died after being denied the basic medical treatments furnished by physicians because of their parents' intense religious beliefs. The tragic deaths of these youngsters have received intense scrutiny from both the news media and public authorities seeking to protect the health and welfare of children.

About this title

Review:

This book really shines for the quantity of data that the author makes available to the reader...The work has a clearly legal orientation, and it must be regarded as a most precious source by scholars dealing with the theme of child abuse. (Tullio Lobetti, Culture and Relgion)

[Peters] provides a vivid, almost anthropological account of the juridification of US society. (Times Higher Education Supplement)

About the Author:

Shawn Francis Peters teaches writing and U.S. history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 019530635X
• ISBN 13: 9780195306354
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 274