Children's welfare should take legal priority over their parents' freedom of religion

Imagine you are a small child and as a special treat for your birthday your mummy and daddy take you to the zoo to see all the lovely animals locked up in their dirty, cramped cages. You are having a wonderful time there and you have laughed at the funny little monkeys and gasped at the great big elephants and you have even been allowed to stroke the bunny rabbits. Then your mummy asks you if you would like to see the lions and you reply that you would. So, you all set off in the direction of the lion enclosure and when you are almost there a panicking zookeeper runs towards you shouting: "Run for your lives! The lions have escaped and they are heading this way!" Frightened, you turn round to your mummy and daddy but they are already legging it back to the car park. All of a sudden, a massive lion pounces on you from behind and mauls you badly, leaving you writhing around in agony on the ground as it heads off to join the rest of the pride on a rampage through the food plaza. You are only semi-conscious but you are aware you are bleeding badly. After some time a crowd gathers round your terribly injured body and one of the people says: "For goodness sake, somebody call an ambulance." But at that moment your mummy and daddy return and your mummy says: "No, stop! Don't call an ambulance, we are devout Christians and we believe only the power of prayer can heal our child." Then your daddy kneels down beside you, bows his head and prays: "Dear Lord. Please don't let our only child die, unless of course it is Your will, in which case that's fair enough, I mean, we are not going to argue with You are we? Oh, and while I'm on, as well as healing my child, could You also have a go at fixing the inlet manifold on my Nissan? The darned thing is loosing pressure again. Thanks very much. Amen." Then your mummy bends over you and says: "There's nothing to worry about, darling, just have faith and put your trust in the Lord and you'll soon be all better." Just then, a man in a white coat pushes his way through the crowds: "Let me through, I'm a doctor!" And the man kneels down next to you and opens a leather bag full of drugs and medical equipment but your daddy turns to him and says: "Take your filthy hands off my child at once, you horrible little heretic, we don't want your evil secular medicine or your unholy bandages around here. This child's fate is in the hands of the Lord, for the Bible teaches us that ‘a man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven' – John, chapter three verse twenty seven." "But Sir" the doctor replies, "The child is haemorrhaging blood at an unsustainable rate - unless I stem the flow and arrange for a blood transfusion as soon as possible the child will die." Then your mummy interrupts: "The child will live or die according to God's will. Hallelujah!" And your daddy adds: "Praise the Lord!" At this point the whole world around you slowly fades to black. Sound like an unlikely tale to you? Unfortunately, it's all too realistic. Every year in the United States dozens of children die as a result of their Christian parents' devotion to what they call ‘God's will' and "in all but four states (Hawaii, Massachusetts, Nebraska and North Carolina) parents can use their religious ideology as a shield against prosecution for withholding medical treatment from their children." (1) Please remember that the children left to die by their fanatically religious parents may not have formed any religious views of their own or, otherwise, they may have been indoctrinated by their parents and their preachers to share the same beliefs as them. But given a blank sheet of paper, how many of those dead children would have refused the chance to live if they were given that option? Society has a duty to protect all children from harm and the government empowers law enforcement officers and social workers to intervene in cases where parents are abusing or neglecting their offspring. However, the authorities are powerless to intervene if parents' neglect of their children's health is done in accordance with their religious beliefs. This seems morally repulsive to me and I, therefore, affirm that since children are powerless to defend themselves, the law should put their best interests ahead of their parents' freedom of religion. Thank you. (1) http://www.time.com...