Audiobook7 hours
Bad Faith: When Religious Belief Undermines Modern Medicine
Written by Paul A. Offit, MD
Narrated by Tom Perkins
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
In recent years, there have been major outbreaks of whooping cough among children in California, mumps in New York, and measles in Ohio's Amish country-despite the fact that these are all vaccine-preventable diseases. Although America is the most medically advanced place in the world, many people disregard modern medicine in favor of using their faith to fight life threatening illnesses. In twenty-first century America, how could this be happening?
Acclaimed physician and author Dr. Paul Offit chronicles the stories of these faithful and their children, whose devastating experiences highlight the tangled relationship between religion and medicine in America. Religious or not, this issue reaches everyone-whether you are seeking treatment at a Catholic hospital or trying to keep your kids safe from diseases spread by their unvaccinated peers.
Replete with vivid storytelling and complex, compelling characters, Bad Faith makes a strenuous case that denying medicine to children in the name of religion isn't just unwise and immoral, but a rejection of the very best aspects of what belief itself has to offer.
Acclaimed physician and author Dr. Paul Offit chronicles the stories of these faithful and their children, whose devastating experiences highlight the tangled relationship between religion and medicine in America. Religious or not, this issue reaches everyone-whether you are seeking treatment at a Catholic hospital or trying to keep your kids safe from diseases spread by their unvaccinated peers.
Replete with vivid storytelling and complex, compelling characters, Bad Faith makes a strenuous case that denying medicine to children in the name of religion isn't just unwise and immoral, but a rejection of the very best aspects of what belief itself has to offer.
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Reviews for Bad Faith
Rating: 4.382353117647059 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
17 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The cases discussed in this book are unbelievable. People are capable of believing the most unbelievable things. If Jesus were alive today I think he would have a few words for Christian Scientists, Jehovah's Witnesses and other faith healing cults about common sense. If medicine has a treatment for something, use it, when there is no treatment then prayer may be your only option, but making prayer the only option, period, is presumption.
Ultimately, Offit's main concern is for children. Parents in these cults are essentially martyring their own children for their religious beliefs, and such should not be allowed. Amazingly, many states have religious exemptions to protect parents who adhere to these religious beliefs from prosecution for medical neglect of their children. This is wrong and we need to change it. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Since I already knew a lot about this topic, I found it hard to get through all the stories of needless suffering. However, if you're not familiar with the crazy things people can do in the name of religion, this would be a good place to start.