Kat, I had the privilege of meeting Lame Deer at Cal State, Bakersfield; a very interesting and wise man. He performed the Lakota naming ceremony for one of the prof's newborn son and gave him the name "Peace pipe".

This tragic story reminds me of a story that was going around several years ago about a devout believer who was facing rising flood waters on his small farm in the Midwest. The sheriff deputy came by and knock on his door and told him that he would have to evacuate his home until the flood receded. "No sir, Sonny!" replies the farmer. "You can't make me leave and besides, I am a Christian and God will deliver me from any danger." The flood kept rising and after a while he was sitting at an upstairs window when some people came to him in a rowboat and offered him a trip to safety. " Not a chance! Thank you just the same but God will deliver me from the flood waters." Finally the farmer is standing on the peak of his roof when a helicopter hovers in and the Coast Guard lowers a harness and over a bullhorn tells him how to slip it on. "No Sir! I ain't a gonna do it! God is my savior and He will save me!" After pleading and begging with the man the Guard 'Copter moves on to find others in need of help. And the man drowns.

The scene shifts to Heaven as the old farmer is ushered into the presence of the Lord. Astounded and yet angry the farmer manages to ask the Lord why he didn't save him. God answers, "Well, first I sent the deputy sheriff by...!"

I don't know if there is a category in the law titled "Criminal Stupidity" but there should be because these willfully ignorant people would be convicted under such a law. God gave us feet so we could walk for ourselves. And hands so we could feed and take care of ourselves. He gave us hearts capable of love so we could care for ourselves and others and the helpless. And He gave us a modicum of brains so we could figure out the right things to do.

I called this couple "willfully ignorant" because it was a pride in THEIR idea of faith that lead to their daughter's demise. The Bible tells us that anyone who doesn't provide for their own (children) is worse than an infidel (I Tim 5:8). Apparently they missed this verse.

There are situation where a medical procedure may be intolerably offensive to some one's ESTABLISHED faith or there are real questions that may lead to an INFORMED decision to reject certain procedure (eg. having a pig's valve implanted in one's heart if that person was a Muslim). Reason MUST be a part of the decision. This little girl's condition could have easily been taken care of by normal medical practices. There is no excuse for these parents allowing their daughter to die. They should be prosecuted and published everywhere to hopefully dissuade other self-appointed exegetes from making such horrendous errors in judgement.