Value context and insight. lkm@koreatimes.co.kr
Fundamentalist Christian couple's faith healing kills second child
By Lee Kyung-min
By Lee Kyung-min
A fundamentalist Christian couple faces the same charge of killing their second child the way they did the first one: faith healing.
Herbert and Catherine Schaible lost their eight-month-old son, Brandon, last week.
The baby was suffering from diarrhea and breathing problems for at least a week, according to the police.
Instead of seeking medical attention, the couple prayed to God to make Brandon well, the investigator said.
Four years ago, their first son, then two-year-old Kent died from bacterial pneumonia.
The boy's symptoms included coughing, congestion, crankiness, and a loss of appetite, according to the police report.
They said he was eating and drinking until the last day, and they had thought he was getting better.
As the couple had turned to God then, too, the toddler died.
They were charged with murder. A jury convicted the Schaibles of involuntary manslaughter in January 2009. Since then they have been on probation.
The prosecution demanded that they be jailed, but the judge, Benjamin Lerner, let the couple free.
“They are a danger. Not to the community, but to their own children,” said the judge. The couple’s seven other children are now in foster care.
The church they go to have a website.
One of a sermon there titled "Healing – From God or Medicine?" It quotes Bible verses forbidding Christians from seeking medical treatment.
"It is a definite sin to trust in medical help and pills, and it is real faith to trust on the Name of Jesus for healing," read one the message, from last May, according to a media report.