He also watched friends die. Leon Cunningham, Briggs’ pal from church, died at home from what church members concluded was pneumonia. Briggs and his family attended the funeral along with every member of their church. After the service, Briggs joined the procession past his 10-year-old friend’s open casket. He looked up at his mother and asked what any 9-year-old might: Why? “It’s God’s will,” she told him. “He took Leon home.”

Briggs and his family belonged to the Followers of Christ Church, which relies solely on prayer to heal and discourages the use of medical treatment. Briggs attended services twice a week and closely followed the Scriptures in the King James Bible, including James 5:14-15: “Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up.”

As members are encouraged to do, Briggs not only married young—at age 18—but also married within the church. In April 1970, two years later, his wife gave birth to a boy in the bedroom of their small house. As the premature baby struggled for life, family and church members gathered at the house and turned to prayer. Four days after he was born, baby Darren died. Church members wrapped his body in a lace blanket, placed him on the kitchen counter, and waited for the coroner to arrive.

Less than two years later, Briggs and his wife had another baby boy, this time at a relative’s house. It was obvious to Briggs that the newborn was in danger. Again, the Briggs family relied on faith, anointed the baby with oil, and prayed for his life. The infant, Davey, died just 12 hours after birth. Overwhelmed with grief, Briggs sat down in his sister-in-law’s garage, put his head in his hands, and cried.
Death among children is not uncommon for the 1,200-member church. Oregon State Medical Examiner Larry Lewman says the death rate among the Followers’ children during the past 10 years is 26 times higher than that of the general population. However, no parents from the Followers of Christ Church have been prosecuted for criminal neglect or abuse in such deaths. Oregon law protects citizens’ rights to freedom of religion. While other states have repealed laws protecting religious parents who fail to seek medical care for their children, Oregon has broadened its exemptions to include a statute sparing these parents from manslaughter charges. According to Terry Gustafson, Clackamas County district attorney, the law makes it impossible to prosecute parents from the Followers of Christ Church. “Right now the state law is endorsing this church’s religious practice,” she says.

That could change. Since February 1999, the Oregon Legislature has been debating H.B. 2494, which would eliminate spiritual treatment defenses to charges of murder, manslaughter, criminal mistreatment, and criminal nonsupport. Before H.B. 2494 reached the House floor, legislators removed the murder and manslaughter clauses. If passed through all phases of legislation, the bill would make it illegal for parents to treat critically ill children by spiritual means in lieu of medical care. With widespread support from child advocacy groups, Oregon may join other states by eliminating a key religious exemption in order to protect, as supporters argue, the lives of children who have no say in the matter.

But the debate over bills like H.B. 2494 poses a dilemma: Where should lawmakers draw the line between caring for a child’s safety and interfering with a parent’s freedom of religion? The First and 14th amendments have been used in similar arguments for decades. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion; the 14th ensures that no state will pass laws infringing on such federally granted rights.
The Followers of Christ wouldn’t be the only faith healing church affected if H.B. 2494 becomes law. The Christian Science Church is the denomination best known for practicing prayer in place of medicine. But Christian Science’s large national following and its 13 churches in Oregon accept medical treatment more readily than the Followers. Unlike the Followers of Christ, Christian Scientists encourage mothers to have an obstetrician present during childbirth. They also support members who seek medical attention when they are severely ill. Perhaps the only relative similarity between the Followers of Christ and Christian Scientists is that both churches view health in moral—not biological—terms.

The Followers of Christ practice a strict and literal interpretation of the Bible, as do many other churches that grew out of the Pentecostal movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. While not all churches of this movement practice faith healing, many share common characteristics: a charismatic leader, a fundamentalist theology, and the notion of being the “chosen few.” The Followers of Christ socialize only within the church and those who leave are shunned, even by family and friends. No outsiders are allowed to join.