Berks County pastor charged in child's death from medical neglect

[Heddi]

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/03/berks_county_pastor_charged_in.html

A pastor in a fundamentalist Christian sect that rejects doctors and drugs has been charged in the death of a child -- his own granddaughter -- from medical neglect.

The novel prosecution is raising hopes among some advocates that it might spur change in a church that has resisted it.

Faith Tabernacle Congregation has long told adherents to place their trust in God alone for healing. As a result, dozens of children, mostly in Pennsylvania, have died of preventable and treatable illnesses.

Church members reject modern medicine as a bedrock tenet of their faith, even as some have faced manslaughter charges in child deaths dating back 35 years.

Until now, though, no leader in the sect has ever faced charges.
...

Foster, 72, pastor of a Faith Tabernacle Congregation church district in Berks County, was charged with a felony this month under a state law requiring clergy members, teachers and other "mandated reporters" to turn the names of suspected child abusers over to authorities for investigation.

The law makes no exception for clergy who happen to be related to the abused child, as Foster was to Ella.


...
Ella's parents, Jonathan and Grace Foster, were charged earlier with involuntary manslaughter and await trial. Police have said Jonathan Foster attributed Ella's death to "God's will."

The reclusive sect, founded in Philadelphia more than a century ago, does not give media interviews.

[shenmue]

1. Shameful