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Paul A. Offit

Bad Faith: When Religious Belief Undermines Modern Medicine Hardcover – March 10, 2015

by Paul A Offit MD (Author)

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In recent years, there have been major outbreaks of whooping cough among children in California, mumps in New York, and measles in Ohio's Amish country -- despite the fact that these are all vaccine-preventable diseases. Although America is the most medically advanced place in the world, many people disregard modern medicine in favor of using their faith to fight life threatening illnesses. Christian Scientists pray for healing instead of going to the doctor, Jehovah's Witnesses refuse blood transfusions, and ultra-Orthodox Jewish mohels spread herpes by using a primitive ritual to clean the wound. Tragically, children suffer and die every year from treatable diseases, and in most states it is legal for parents to deny their children care for religious reasons. In twenty-first century America, how could this be happening?

In Bad Faith, acclaimed physician and author Dr. Paul Offit gives readers a never-before-seen look into the minds of those who choose to medically martyr themselves, or their children, in the name of religion. Offit chronicles the stories of these faithful and their children, whose devastating experiences highlight the tangled relationship between religion and medicine in America. Religious or not, this issue reaches everyone -- whether you are seeking treatment at a Catholic hospital or trying to keep your kids safe from diseases spread by their unvaccinated peers.

Replete with vivid storytelling and complex, compelling characters, Bad Faith makes a strenuous case that denying medicine to children in the name of religion isn't't just unwise and immoral, but a rejection of the very best aspects of what belief itself has to offer.

Print length

272 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Basic Books
Publication date

March 10, 2015
Dimensions

6.5 x 1 x 9.63 inches
ISBN-10

0465082963
ISBN-13

978-0465082964
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“An important and fascinating book. For more than a decade, Paul Offit has been relentless in his exposure of forces that can undermine the life-saving advances of modern medicine. His latest effort, Bad Faith, combines gripping storytelling with an insider's knowledge. Offit offers a compassionate and clear-headed take on religion that puts children's well-being where it should be: at the center of the discussion. A must-read for anyone interested in the challenges of public health in the twenty-first century.”
—Seth Mnookin, Associate Director of The Graduate Program in Science Writing, MIT, and author of The Panic Virus: The True Story Behind the Vaccine-Autism Controversy

“Honest and fair, Bad Faith fails to leave any stone unturned—whether it be why faith-healing groups continue to promote these practices or roots of the religious theories against modern science. Regardless of your faith, this is a fabulous book that's well worth the read.”
—Philadelphia Inquirer

“Using actual case histories to illustrate the needless suffering and deaths that occur as a result of these methods, Offit masterfully points out that the denial of medicine in the name of religion actually rejects the basic teaching of religious faith: relieving suffering, providing hope, and treating others as one would wish to be treated. An excellent book with an important message that belongs in all library collections.
—Library Journal (starred review)

“A clear-eyed, sometimes terrifying look at how religious belief has been used, both historically and in contemporary contexts, to undermine modern medicine.”
—Kirkus Reviews (feature interview)

“A must read for anyone who seeks to understand the tangled relationship between religion and medicine in America.”
—Shot of Prevention

“This book should be read by anyone who deals with children, parents, medicine, or religion…Read the book. Make up your own mind about the religious aspect of it. But get the kids to the doctor.”
—Skeptic Ink

“No physician today writes with more passion and courage about the impact of quackery, zealotry, hucksterism, and bad science upon the health of our children than Paul Offit. Bad Faith is another superb example, exposing the dangers of religious extremism in denying basic and life-saving medical care to the most vulnerable among us. This is no screed against religion, far from it. Deeply moving, elegantly written, Bad Faith brilliantly exposes the harm done by belief systems gone awry.”
—David Oshinsky, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Polio: An American Story and Director, Division of Medical Humanities, New York University Medical School

“The medical system may function, in many ways, like an organized religion, but Paul Offit is not asking us to abandon God for doctors. Nor is he arguing that faith is bad. His premise here is that both medicine and religion, at their best, hold human life sacred.”
—Eula Biss, author of On Immunity: An Inoculation

“Paul Offit…is one of the most courageous and sober voices arguing to protect children from exemptions made by their parents.”
—New York Review of Books

“Offit is unflinching in his examination of the lethal costs of belief taken to irrational extremes.”
—Publishers Weekly

“A thought-provoking discussion of the conflict between society's right to protect all children and the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Offit makes a convincing case that these actions are contrary to the very best aspects inherent in religious beliefs.”
—Muses & Visionaries

“This is a brave examination of the unhappy borderlands where religious beliefs battle—often tragically—against the imperatives of medical care and public health; packed with fascinating stories of the most tortured meetings of medical practice and religious practice, but also allowing glimpses of good faith and medical hope.”
—Perri Klass, M.D., Director, Arthur L. Carter Institute of Journalism, New York University and author of Treatment Kind and Fair

PRAISE FOR BAD FAITH:

One of Library Journal's “Best Core Nonfiction” books of 2015

“Gripping.... With Bad Faith, perhaps even more than with his previous books, Dr. Offit is probably preaching only to the choir. That doesn't make his message any less important.”
—New York Times, Science Times

“Offit must be commended for the detachment and gentleness with which he treats his subjects, who comprise both the faith healers and the parents of children who have died because they failed to receive life-saving medical procedures...He treads a careful path through exposing the wretchedness caused by religion, while not simply applauding secularism as the remedy.”
—Times Higher Education Supplement

“But even allowing for the positive role of religion in aiding the afflicted, one can only hope that...books like Bad Faith will eventually bring about legislation that eliminates religious exemption for medical neglect of a child.”
—New York Times Book Review

“Offit nobly endeavours to make peace with religion as concept, while simultaneously lambasting its more blinkered, potentially dangerous practitioners.
—Globe & Mail

About the Author

Paul A. Offit, MD, is a Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The author of several books, he lives in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books (March 10, 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0465082963
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0465082964
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1 x 9.63 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #723,970 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #392 in Medical Ethics (Books)
- #395 in Religious Ethics (Books)
- #1,488 in Medical Reference (Books)

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4.5 189 ratings

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Paul A. Offit

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Paul A. Offit, M.D., is a professor of pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, as well as the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. An expert in the field of vaccines, he is a recipient of many awards, including the J. Edmund Bradley Prize for Excellence in Pediatrics from the University of Maryland Medical School; the Young Investigator Award in Vaccine Development from the Infectious Disease Society of America; and a Research Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health. His books include the recent Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure, and Pandora's Lab: Seven Stories of Science Gone Wrong. Visit his website at www.paul-offit.com.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5

189 global ratings

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4 star		21%
3 star		10%
2 star		1%
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Ken Jacobsen

Required reading for any Christian in America

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 1, 2023

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This perceptive book goes to the heart of the question of just what IS 'faith'?

One would think the answer is simple, but American Christianity has been so corrupted by charlatans for so long that faith has been supplanted by self-delusion and the difference between the two has become hard to distinguish. 'The Power of Positive Thinking' isn't a power at all, it's only the power to delude one's self. But that ideology has so pervaded American culture that here in the USA we have political figures who contend they won elections that they lost for no other reason than because they think so.

Dr Offit is to be commended for not taking an Atheist position and dismissing all religious belief as a fraud. If he had, his book would have been an exercise in nothing but useless self-congratulation. As it is he is wonderfully perceptive about the teachings of Christ, particularly in relation to sickness and health – the focus of his book.

“”Jesus’s ministry was evidence that God cared about those who suffered,” writes Offit. "Jesus’s strongly held belief that disease was arbitrary—occurring in equal measure in the virtuous and sinful—put him in direct conflict with the religion of his people." he writes. Horrifyingly, it puts Christ into conflict with millions of people who call themselves Christians in the USA to this day, thanks to the diabolical teachings of an endless stream of ignorant, hypocritical televangelists.

And Dr. Offit gets to the ugly heart of the problem – that these 'healers' only operate by convincing people who aren't healed that they are, then blaming THEM for not actually being healed. They've given themselves the perfect out by trapping people in a false concept of faith.

Also to his credit Dr Offit has no problem naming the worst of these wolves, from Phineas Quimby to Mary Baker Eddy to Peter Popoff to Jim Bakker, though oddly he omits the worst of them all by far, Benny Hinn. Perhaps the book was written before Hinn's rise.

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Bruce M.

All went well & on time

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 18, 2022

Verified Purchase

W/O any criticism. Will do business again

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A

Excellent - A review from a Christian Pediatrician

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 9, 2015

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Quick Review:
This is an excellent book that illustrates the problem and consequences of refusing medical care especially for children who are the most vulnerable. Dr Offit is not harsh on people of faith but does point out things like contradictions and irrational thought processes. I would strongly recommend this book to healthcare providers, members of the clergy and parents that want to further understand religious exemption to care. Members of legislature should consider this required reading.

More Detail:
I need to preface my comments with some background. I am Christian and an active member of a Bible based church. Furthermore, I am a practicing pediatrician that strongly supports non-refusing of lifesaving healthcare for children and vaccines. We do not take patients that refuse to vaccinate or wish to delay. I pray with our patients. I do believe that I have seen miracles.

I am an admirer of Dr Offit. I frequently direct our families to the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia website. I have met Dr Offit when he did grand rounds at our hospital and really enjoy his books.

Generally the titles of his books are inflammatory and he does not sugar coat things. I was worried that this book would be unfair or take a negative slant on legitimate Christianity. In fact, I read the book with an intent to find something taken out of context, generalizations or a condescending tone. That is not the case at all.

The first half of the book focuses on specific problems with religions. Cults, christian science, and faith healers for example. He does point out inconsistencies within some individual religions like Jahova's Witnesses that deny blood but will take their blood products. The chapter on abortion focuses on the Catholic ban is to the point and I think makes an excellent point about abortion in the setting where the mother's life is in legitimate jeopardy.

There are great chapters that discuss how children have been treated throughout history and how Christ changed that. Also how Jesus Christ directly influenced and helped start modern medicine.

The second half of the book looks at refusing medical care specifically to children from vaccines to complete child neglect through faith healers or prayer. As a Christian these chapters are a haunting reminder about how the fringe minority can hurt people. Blind faith from someone that is teaching things that are just not biblical is a problem.

I would have liked to seen something about "normal" people that refuse medical care and cite their religion. For example, in our community there are people that refuse vaccinations and site their religion as the reason for this. This despite their church NOT teaching anything of the sort and when asked the church does not support that practice. What I have found is that these families are trying to get around a law (our state does not have a conscientious objection law, only religious exemption) and look for scripture that can be twisted to support their view. These families are intentionally misrepresenting their faith, my faith, to support their fears. Had he mentioned this it would have illustrated that for the most part Christianity is in support of medical care, etc. It is those that are not truly following Christ and have not Him the Lord of their life that have these views.

The book concludes with a discussion about child abuse and how the solution is through the legislature.

As with Dr Offit's other books it is an easy read that goes quickly. It is not technical and non medical folks will not have a problem understanding it. Christians that read this will find scripture used appropriately. I doubt that Dr Offit is a Christian and I think that the examples from the Bible that he cites are good. When making the arguments that he does I think that he picked the strongest examples from the Bible that he could have.

61 people found this helpful

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H. Whitehead

Surprisingly well-balanced.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 13, 2016

Verified Purchase

This book contains a variety of topics from a close examination of Christian Science (which believes that illness is an illusion caused by ignorance of God - therefore, as illness is not actually real, the only way to treat it is prayer), televangelists, child abuse, abortion, etc. It's a well-balanced book with case studies, excerpts from the Bible and also scientific studies, which results in a discussion, not a rant.

What impressed me the most was the balanced nature of Bad Faith. Dr Offit is a Pediatrician specialising in infectious diseases and is the co-inventor of a rotavirus vaccine. It's fairly safe to say that his sympathies are going to lie with science and medicine, and so I was more or less expecting a diatribe on the dangers of religion and how their beliefs are ineffectual and redundant. As it turns out, I completely misjudged both Dr Offit and his work. Several chapters discuss how much good religion has brought about with regard to healing and how their efforts can be misintepreted by the more cynical. It's only the (usually) well-intentioned few who are the cause of the controversy.

What I loved about this book is that I still can't tell if Dr Offit believes in God or not. He never once suggests that God does not exist and, to an extent, I don't suppose it really matters in this context. It's more about the ways in which the fervent, zealous beliefs of a few (not of religion as a whole) have affected the treatment of many.

Several case studies are discussed in depth (including the Texas measles outbreak and the case of Matthew Swan that led to the large-scale investigation of faith healing) and Dr Offit references a huge amount of papers and studies to back up his opinions. Whilst this is definitely a popular-interest book, its based on thorough research and investigation.

I think I would have preferred a little more discussion on abortion, euthanasia, vaccination (although I understand he has a whole book dedicated to vaccination, so perhaps he didn't wish to repeat himself), etc, instead of the slight repetition with regard to faith healing, on which Bad Faith mainly dwells. My favourite section was (unsurprisingly) the part about the statutes which make it so difficult to prosecute faith healing parents.

Bad Faith is heart-breaking and shocking. I finished this book whilst getting a train to York to see a show, and I couldn't get it out of my head during the train ride or the show itself. Some aspects hurt me, some angered me and others just caused bewilderment at how anybody could think that was acceptable.

This is a compassionate yet logical discussion of how a misunderstanding of certain religious tenets can lead to severe harm, despite the multitude of scientific advances. Dr Offit has written several other books which I'm looking forward to reading, including Killing Us Softly: The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine, which I've totally already bought.

One person found this helpful

Dave, Hertford Town

Fantastic book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 11, 2019

Verified Purchase

Although I am an Atheist this isn't an Atheist book, it's a book about fanatical religion, it's a very, very compelling warning to anyone who might be interested in getting involved with one of these religions, even from a more weaker form of religion to something with strong beliefs, such as Jehovah's Witnesses for instance, the accounts are quite shocking and are a must read for anyone interest in religion

George Poirier

A Real Eye-Opener!

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on August 30, 2022

Verified Purchase

In this book, the author, a physician, discusses how parents of some religious groups refuse to seek out modern medicine to help their sick children. Instead, they resort to prayer with the expectation that Jesus or God will do the healing. Their reasoning is that if their children die as a result, then it was God’s will. The author presents several heart-wrenching cases where, as a result of this approach, children have experienced agonizing deaths. He also discusses several ways in which states/countries/courts try to save these children through legal means.

This book was an eye-opener for me since I did not think that it was such a problem in this day and age. As is the case with all of the other books by this author that I have read, the prose is clear, lively, authoritative, accessible and immensely captivating.

Anna B

interesting read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 6, 2016

Verified Purchase

Such an interesting read. Excellent insight.

2 people found this helpful

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