An anonymous caller tells a detective in a small Oregon town that a woman has just bitten off a man's finger. But the man is not the victim, the caller says. The woman is. She's being held against her will by a group of faith-healing fanatics who are trying to cure her depression with violent exorcisms. The detective rescues her, but she is afraid to press charges against the people in her church. Then the detective gets an even more ominous message: Children in the church have been dying mysteriously for years, and now several more are in immediate peril, facing blindness, disability, and death. Unwilling to stand by and allow more children to suffer, the anonymous caller -- a church insider -- risks everything to work with three detectives and a lone prosecutor to fight faith-based child abuse, and to change the laws that protect its perpetrators. They are joined by a mother who'd suffered a faith-healing tragedy herself, and afterwards dedicated her life to saving others from the same fate. Masterfully written by author Cameron Stauth, In the Name of God tells the true story of their heroic mission, which resulted in a historic series of sensational trials that exposed the darkest secret of American fundamentalism, and revealed the shameful political deals that have allowed thousands of children to die at the hands of their own parents -- legally. Though the battle against faith-healing abuse continues around the country, the victory in Oregon has lit the path to a better future, in which no child need die because of a parent's beliefs.
Autorentext
CAMERON STAUTH is author or coauthor of 25 books. He has been editor of The Journal of Health Science, editor-in-chief of The Journal of the Nutritional Academy, a columnist for Natural Health , American Film, L.A. Business, and California Business, and his articles have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, People, The Saturday Evening Post, Prevention, Good Housekeeping, and many other publications. He lives in Portland, Oregon, and Sun Valley, Idaho.
Inhalt
Prologue: Genesis
Part One: The Book of Matthew
1. The Serpent
2. God's Perfect World
3. Death and Dismemberment
4. The Exorcist
5. The Crime Family
Part Two: The Book of Judas
6. Betrayed with a Kiss
7. The Getaway
8. The Snitch
9. Crime Scene Investigators
10. Guilt and Innocence
11. The Wages of Sin
12. The Love of Judas
Part Three: The Book of Revelation
13. The First Great Awakening
14. Sacrificed on the Altar
15. Angel Baby
16. Police Work
17. Clackatraz
18. Tender Mercies
19. Healing the Blind
20. The Father, The Son
21. It Is Finished
Epilogue: Exodus
Index