Idaho Law Protects Faith Healers. It Wasn’t Always That Way.

Idaho law shields parents from neglect or manslaughter charges when they choose prayer over medical care for a dying child, but ProPublica reports that wasn't always the rule. Territorial statutes dating to 1887 required parents to provide medical attendance with no religious carve-out, and a 1960s Idaho judge ordering care for a sick child put it plainly: the law governs conduct, religion governs opinion. That changed in a 1971 rewrite of the criminal code that exempted parents choosing prayer over treatment, followed by a broader 1976 exemption also shielding children from foster care removal. Idaho kept the protection even after the federal mandate behind it eased in the 1980s and other states, like Colorado, rolled theirs back, and ProPublica found the Followers of Christ sect's Idaho congregations saw fifteen preventable child deaths between 2015 and 2025.

Listen to this story

Hear this and more stories in a personalized audio briefing.

Open The Chonkerton