On my 11/30 post, I spoke of several cases diminishing Parental Rights as being fundamental in our courts of law. You will recall that young Jacob Stieler’s parents had opted not to subject him to further chemotherapy once multiple PET scans showed that his cancer was gone, but the state Health & Human Services department filed charges of medical neglect against those loving parents.
I just received an email from Michael Farris, founder of HSLDA, defending Erin and Ken Stieler:
“The judge took the petition under advisement for the weekend and has just reported his decision to dismiss the case. This is a tremendous victory for the Stielers and for families around the country, as it affirms once again the fundamental right of fit parents to make medical decisions for their children.
The Supreme Court in 1979 voiced the presumption “that natural bonds of affection lead parents to act in the best interests of their children” (Parham v. J.R.). The dismissal of this case reaffirms that presumption in American law.”
This case was a key assault by the medical establishment and government being able to dictate what treatments should be given ( or not given) to your child that would have been a landmark decision. Instead, it reaffirmed what the courts have always ruled in the past before 1979 in that Parental Rights is a fundamental right assuming the same status as free speech being a fundamental right.
Making it an amendment would be better though due to ambitious courts whose tendency has leaned towards making laws, let alone laws contrary to the Constitution it has promised to uphold.
As the lines of right and wrong are blurred or ignored entirely slowly chipping away at values, people clamor for more laws written on the books, thinking it will curb behavior vs. embracing laws written on all our hearts nurtured through a relationship with our Creator.
The author of Courageous Leadership writes:
“For eight years during the decade of the nineties I went to Washington, D.C., every month to meet in the foremost centers of power with some of the highest elected officials in our country. What I discovered was not how powerful these people are, but how limited their power really is. All they can actually do is rearrange the yard markers on the playing field of life.” (For themselves too) “They can’t change a human heart. They can’t heal a human soul. They can’t turn hatred into love. They can’t bring about repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation, peace. They can’t get to the core problem…”
Government is rarely the answer because the law cannot change a person’s heart. Its power is limited by Divine Providence. Its purpose was to limit man’s vices but government is run by man himself. When accountability in government breaks down, we see what happens above. Rev. Jason McGuire of NYCF writes, “Even on its best day, at its greatest moments of achievement, human government leaves us longing for a greater one. Our broken government, which cannot get to the core problem, drives us to our need for the One who can.”
Merry Christmas to All,
Shawn Skeele