迷信禱求耶穌治病，兩小孩白白病死

（美聯社，2013年4月23日）

費城 - 一對基督徒夫婦的孩子在2009年時生病，他們不去尋找醫生幫助，卻只禱告，結果死了，曾被法院判處緩刑，現在，另一個小兒子又死了，將面臨新的指控，。

赫伯特和凱瑟琳沙伊布勒(Herbert and Catherine Schaible)屬於一個基督教原教旨主義教會，教會認可信仰療法。 本月，他們8個月大的小孩，有腹瀉和呼吸問題，被停止進食至少一個星期，只告祈禱而不醫治，結果又死了。

四年前，他們的兒子也死於細菌性肺炎。

檢察官週二表示，在進行屍檢後，他們得到的結果將決定是否會起訴這對夫婦。

他們的律師說 ，他們急於做出判斷，且夫妻倆都是好父母，深深為小孩之死心煩意亂且傷悲。

其2歲的兒子，肯特2009年1月死亡。 男孩的症狀包括咳嗽，充血，偏執和食慾不振。 他的父母則說，他兒子一直有吃，有喝，直到最後一天，他們還以為他是漸入佳境。

Catherine Schaible被判處10年緩刑。

週一偵訊後，一名法官告訴這對夫妻，他們已違反緩刑適用條款，Catherine Schaibles曾告訴調查人員，他們向上帝祈禱，而不是就醫。

費城每日新聞說，費城法官本傑明·勒納告訴他們說：“你這樣再犯一次，後果是悲慘的，”。

檢察官週一尋求夫婦被判入獄，但，法官勒納允許他們保持自由，因為他們的另七個孩子們已被安置寄養。

在2010年起訴這對夫的助理地區檢察官說這對夫妻對自已小孩有威脅，而不是社會。

赫伯特沙伊布勒(Herbert Schaible)44歲，和他43歲的妻子出生在費成東北的第一世紀福音教會(First Century Gospel Church)，並曾擔任教會導師。 教會的網站上有一個宣教的標題為“治療 - 從上帝或醫學得治？”引用經文據稱禁止基督徒看醫生或服藥。

去年5月的訊息聲稱：信徒求醫生的幫助和藥丸是一個明確的罪，真正的信仰是相信耶穌會醫治，。

週二記者留給教堂的電話留言，沒有人立即回覆。

在2010年該教堂的牧師曾說，這對夫妻從來沒有請助產士幫助，而是在家中自行分娩。

2nd Child of Pa. Couple Dies After Only Praying

Second Child of 'Faith Healing' Parents Dies

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A couple serving probation for the 2009 death of their toddler after they turned to prayer instead of a doctor could face new charges now that another son has died.

Herbert and Catherine Schaible belong to a fundamentalist Christian church that believes in faith healing. They lost their 8-month-old son, Brandon, last week after he suffered from diarrhea and breathing problems for at least a week, and stopped eating. Four years ago, another son died from bacterial pneumonia.

Prosecutors said Tuesday that a decision on charges will be made after they get the results of an autopsy.

Catherine Schaible's attorney, Mythri Jayaraman, cautioned against a rush to judgment, and said the couple are good parents deeply distraught over the loss of another child.

"There are way more questions than answers at this point. We haven't seen the autopsy report. We don't know the cause of death of this child," Jayaraman told The Associated Press. "What we do know is Mr. and Mrs. Schaible are distraught, they are grieving, they are tremendously sad about the loss of their most recent baby."

A man who answered the phone at a listing for Herbert Schaible declined to comment and hung up.

A jury convicted the Schaibles of involuntary manslaughter in the January 2009 death of their 2-year-old son, Kent. The boy's symptoms had included coughing, congestion, crankiness and a loss of appetite. His parents said he was eating and drinking until the last day, and they had thought he was getting better.

Philadelphia Police Department/AP

Herbert and Catherine Schaible are shown in... View Full Size

Oregon Faith-Healing Trial Set to Begin

The Schaibles were sentenced to 10 years' probation.

At a hearing Monday, a judge told the couple they had violated the terms of their probation, noting the Schaibles had told investigators that they prayed to God to make Brandon well instead of seeking medical attention.

"You did that once, and the consequences were tragic," Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Benjamin Lerner said, according to the Philadelphia Daily News.

Prosecutors on Monday sought to have the couple jailed, but Lerner permitted them to remain free because their seven other children had been placed in foster care.

"He feels they are a danger to their children — not to the community, but to their own children," Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore, who prosecuted the couple in 2010, said Tuesday.

Herbert Schaible, 44, and his 43-year-old wife grew up in the First Century Gospel Church in northeast Philadelphia and have served as teachers there. The church's website has a sermon titled "Healing — From God or Medicine?" that quotes Bible verses purportedly forbidding Christians from visiting doctors or taking medicine.

"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," says the message, from last May.

A phone message left with the church on Tuesday was not immediately returned.

The church's pastor said in 2010 that the couple had never received medical care themselves beyond the help of a lay midwife who attends home births.

The Schaibles did take their children for medical checkups as required by their probation, according to Jayaraman, the defense attorney. Jayaraman said that Brandon was checked by a doctor when he was 10 days old, but she did not know whether the child had seen a doctor since.

"Nobody argues that these aren't very loving, nurturing parents," she said Tuesday. "Whether their religion had anything to do with the death of their baby, we don't know."

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Rubinkam reported from northeast Pennsylvania.