A Retrospective

I cannot believe this class is over.  Being a math major, I was expecting this class to be incredibly painful, but it was hardly painful at all.  I actually enjoyed writing the first and fourth assignments—I wrote about the media coverage on the Russia-Chechnya and Russia-Georgia wars for the first assignment and religion in medicine and law for the fourth.  I had a hard time with the second assignment and writing about the issues of academic freedom particular to my field of study because math is perhaps the only subject where solutions are black and white/ right or wrong. 

 

THE BLOG.

The blog was probably the hardest assignment for me that we had to do for this class (ha!).  I always felt somewhat funny when I wrote an entry because I knew somebody would be reading it.  Although I do not think I will continue this blog, the process of blogging really made me more productive with my time.  I guess it’s because I knew I needed something juicy to write about each week so I was constantly researching.

 

THE CLASS

I greatly appreciated all the group work we did during the class and the opportunities we had to discuss our research or writing issues during conferences.  I learned a lot about the researching process and how to narrow a search down to the sources that were actually going to help me.  The last paper was particularly interesting to research, especially since law, medicine and religion are really fascinating to me.  I liked being able to pick a topic that combined all three and dissect the issues that exist between them.

 

 

 

 

Possible Solution?

Our First Amendment says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Those in favor of religious exemptions have argued that punishing a parent who denies their child medical treatment because their religion forbids it violates the parent's First Amendment right to religious freedom.  Does a parent's right to freedom of religious (and authority over their child) take precedence over the child's right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"?  

I believe the answer should be no and that the right to life should always take precedence over the right to religious freedom.  I think religious exemptions should be removed altogether when it involves children. Children who are unable to make decisions for themselves and who are under the age of eighteen should not be denied medical care because the religion of their parents forbids it.   Parents are suppose to protect and provide for their children and, if they are unable to do so, I also believe that the state governments should hold these parents accountable for their actions 

Parents should only be allowed to deny their child a specific medical treatment if there is an equally effective alternative, which they are willing to give to their child.  Physicians should always make the final decision and be able to override the parent's if they believe that the parent's decision is not in the best interest of the child.  

It doesn't seem there will ever be a solution that pleases all three fields--medicine, religion and law.  But I think the best solution here is to protect children in every way that we can.