FAITH VS. MEDICINE

Is it all or nothing? Or is there a fine balance?

By Rob Cullivan

The Gresham Outlook, Oct 13, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (7 Reader comments)

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The Christian gospels are filled with stories of Jesus Christ healing those who flocked to him as he wandered and taught.

And Christians of all stripes – Protestant, Catholic, Evangelical and Orthodox – have believed through the centuries that praying to Jesus can help in healing.

However, these same Christians generally believe God has blessed medical practitioners with the ability to help sick people regain their health.

That’s not the case, however, with members of Followers of Christ Church in Oregon City, who discourage the use of modern medicine in favor of “faith healing” – including prayer, the laying on of hands and the anointing of oils.

Church members Carl Brent Worthington and his wife, Raylene Marie Worthington, were indicted last year on charges of second-degree manslaughter and second-degree criminal mistreatment following the death of their daughter, Ava Worthington, on March 2, 2008, from pneumonia and a blood infection.

Authorities charged the Worthingtons because they did not call 9-1-1 or seek medical treatment for their daughter.

The judge in the case denied a defense motion that prosecuting the Worthingtons violated their religious rights. In 1999, Oregon deleted the religious defense in cases of second-degree manslaughter involving children under 14.

The jury acquitted Raylene on all charges, but Carl Worthington was convicted of criminal mistreatment. He served 60 days in jail and also must serve five years probation. An appeal has been filed.

The Outlook was unable to arrange interviews with any members of the Followers of Christ. However, Mark C. Cogan, who served on the Worthingtons’ defense team, noted the Followers of Christ are “not seeking to be part of any larger movement or larger cause.”

On that note, the defense did not enlist the aid of any religious rights organizations during the trial, but the lawyers believe the case is a test of religious rights.

“The prosecution of the Worthingtons does raise larger issues of religious freedom in our state,” Cogan said.

In God we trust

Constitutional law aside, do the Followers of Christ have a scriptural leg to stand on? Not if you survey several East County churches.

Ray Young, outreach pastor for Gresham’s East Hill Church, said his congregants “regularly see miraculous healing as a result of the prayers of the faithful.”

However, East Hill members also believe God “created humans with amazing skills and intellect.

“To believe that God gave us the ability to develop medical care and pharmaceuticals, but not to use it, dishonors the wonderful abilities he created in us,” Young said.

The Christian scriptures affirm medicine, he added, noting one of Jesus’ apostles, Luke, was himself a physician.

“Nowhere does Luke renounce his God-given gift of medical ability nor does Jesus tell him to stop practicing medical care,” Young said, adding: “When a person is ill or injured we believe the Bible teaches us to both pray and seek medical attention. One does not cancel the other.”

One of two Gresham Episcopal churches takes its name from St. Luke the Physician, noted its rector, the Rev. Jennifer Creswell. Episcopalians believe “God’s healing love” can take different forms, she added.

“If we know someone who has been diagnosed with cancer, we will pray for God’s healing love to fill that person,” she said. “We pray this with the understanding that God’s healing love may take the form of curing the cancer. But we also understand that God’s healing love may take other forms for this person.”

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