An Idaho Republican is refusing to back a proposal that would require religious parents to seek medical care for their dying children – but he won’t promise any changes to a state law protecting faith healers. Parents are allowed under state law to substitute prayer as a form of medical treatment and carve out a religious exemption to manslaughter, capital murder and negligent homicide charges if those prayers go unanswered and their child dies. “I believe the law is pretty straightforward,” said state Sen. Lee Heider, of Twin Falls. “We would encourage them to seek medical care, but we don’t force people to seek medical care – and whether it’s because they can’t afford it or, in this case, because of their heartfelt religious belief, we simply don’t do that.”

Heider also stated that “religious freedom” is the reason why today there are people who have no problem letting their children die, “and, among other things, that’s also a part of such freedom that we as a country have no hold over. There’s nothing we can do about it from a legal standpoint that would stop people from doing that, and at the same time, maintain this level of freedom when it comes to making decisions independently. In other words, you asked for it – now you got it.”

“Personally, I think that we should have religious freedom in this country, even if it means that people should let their children die because of their beliefs,” he added. “After all, Abraham was in the same situation, according to the Bible. A voice from Heaven told him to tie up his son and lay him down on an altar and kill him, and he was prepared to do that precisely because he had faith in something greater than man. And it’s a widely known fact that the Bible is always right and that it was, actually, written in a way that depicts actual events, not fictional ones. So, one plus one equals two; therefore, people should, pretty much be left to their own accord in terms of their religious beliefs, even if that includes something as difficult to grasp as murdering their own offspring.”

Heider also argued, “Sometimes it’s best not to try to wrap your head around these complicated things. You know, it can be very time-consuming and difficult, so you might just want to leave it to the pros. It’s our job to get these sort of things sorted out properly, and this was a good example of how that works. Besides, the Bible is everything we need to go on, it has never failed us before. It’s unmistakable.”