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Bad faith : when religious belief undermines modern medicine / Paul A. Offit.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Basic Books, [2015]Copyright date: ©2015Description: xv, 253 p. ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 0465082963
  • 9780465082964
Subject(s):
Contents:
The very worst thing -- A fragile magic -- A vengeful God -- The faith healer next door -- The literal and the damned -- Dialogue of the deaf -- Do unto others -- Ungodly acts -- The miracle business -- The peculiar people -- The divine whisper -- Standing up -- Epilogue: the frail web of understanding.
Summary: "In Bad Faith, acclaimed physician and author Paul Offit gives readers a never-before-seen look into the minds of those who choose to medically martyr themselves, or their children, in the name of religion. Never afraid of controversy, Offit takes a stark and disturbing look at our surprising capacity to risk the health and safety of children in service of our beliefs. He tells the story of two devoted Christian Scientists who are shocked and heartbroken when their infant dies of a treatable disease; of orthodox Jewish parents who risk infecting their babies with herpes during an unsterile circumcision ritual; and of a man who believes his faith can cure his son's diabetes and, when that tragically fails, tries to raise him from the dead. The tangled relationship between religion and medicine may appear to afflict only certain pockets of America, but this phenomenon reaches much further -- whether you are seeking treatment at a Catholic hospital or trying to keep your kids safe from diseases spread by their unvaccinated peers, you'll likely encounter these issues"--Provided by publisher.
Fiction notes: Click to open in new window
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 201.661 O32 Available 33111007973486
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

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. Christian Scientists pray for healing instead of going to the doctor, Jehovah's Witnesses refuse blood transfusions, and ultra-Orthodox Jewish mohels spread herpes by using a primitive ritual to clean the wound. Tragically, children suffer and die every year from treatable diseases, and in most states it is legal for parents to deny their children care for religious reasons. In twenty-first century America, how could this be happening?

In Bad Faith , acclaimed physician and author Dr. Paul Offit gives readers a never-before-seen look into the minds of those who choose to medically martyr themselves, or their children, in the name of religion. 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't just unwise and immoral, but a rejection of the very best aspects of what belief itself has to offer.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The very worst thing -- A fragile magic -- A vengeful God -- The faith healer next door -- The literal and the damned -- Dialogue of the deaf -- Do unto others -- Ungodly acts -- The miracle business -- The peculiar people -- The divine whisper -- Standing up -- Epilogue: the frail web of understanding.

"In Bad Faith, acclaimed physician and author Paul Offit gives readers a never-before-seen look into the minds of those who choose to medically martyr themselves, or their children, in the name of religion. Never afraid of controversy, Offit takes a stark and disturbing look at our surprising capacity to risk the health and safety of children in service of our beliefs. He tells the story of two devoted Christian Scientists who are shocked and heartbroken when their infant dies of a treatable disease; of orthodox Jewish parents who risk infecting their babies with herpes during an unsterile circumcision ritual; and of a man who believes his faith can cure his son's diabetes and, when that tragically fails, tries to raise him from the dead. The tangled relationship between religion and medicine may appear to afflict only certain pockets of America, but this phenomenon reaches much further -- whether you are seeking treatment at a Catholic hospital or trying to keep your kids safe from diseases spread by their unvaccinated peers, you'll likely encounter these issues"--Provided by publisher.

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