Religious folks baffle me. Imagine that your child is dying, and in order to save their life, a simple blood transfusion is needed. For the vast majority of us, this is simply a no-brainer; people have been receiving blood transfusions for almost 400 years, and it’s a relatively benign form of aid. Sure, there are some minor risks involved, but for the most part, thousands of transfusions happen without incident. Not so in the case of Jehovah’s Witnesses, who have interpreted the Bible’s disgust in spilt blood into a generalized philosophy that outright bans their members from receiving transfusions, even when it would save their lives. It’s estimated that almost 600 JW’s lose their lives every year from their refusal, and since their adoption of this ridiculous practice, over 30,000 of them have perished needlessly.
If you want to let yourself die over the ridiculous belief that your god disapproves of this life saving medical procedure, and you are an adult, there’s nothing stopping you from throwing your life away. However, this certainly does not mean that you have a right to decide for others whether or not they get to live. That’s something that the courts in Australia also seem to agree, as a recent ruling from a judge is forcing a JW couple to allow their three year old toddler to receive blood for her upcoming medical surgeries. For months the couple has been fighting her doctors, and so the courts had to get involved to save her life.
The court took into account the parents’ strongly held convictions. “However, based on the medical evidence and the submissions advanced by the parties it was clearly in JI’s best interests and welfare to authorize the proposed treatment in advance of her upcoming surgeries”
Why is someone’s conviction important? Anyone can have a conviction, but it does not mean that their beliefs are righteous. You could have a strong conviction that everyone on earth is the devil and needs to be destroyed (a belief that’s held by quite a few religious groups, I might add). The fact that the court and even the doctors were trying to bend over backwards for these types of ludicrous beliefs is beyond me. Only the veneer of religion can make people this weak and pathetic in the face of such stupidity. By just concentrating on the facts, it boils down to a child’s life hanging in the balance, all because her parents think that a Bronze Age god gives a crap what gets put in your body.
