Commentary; Posted: 11/16/05
When faith and medicine conflict
Rev. John C. Blackford,
Religion Columnist
If you have driven in southeastern Minnesota, south of Rochester and near the Iowa border, you probably have seen black horse-drawn wagons with triangular orange reflective signs on back. You know you are in Amish country.
The largest Amish communities are in that part of the state, but the oldest settlements are in the Wadena area, in the central part of Minnesota. In the town of Clarissa, five cases of polio infection were confirmed last month, the first outbreak in the United States since 1979. Five Amish children ó three from the same family ó in Todd County contracted the polio infection. The Minnesota Department of Health is now seeking to find ways to immunize an Amish society that resists the use of modern medical practices, while respecting their beliefs.
Who are the Amish? They are people who follow a simple lifestyle, based on their faith in God, family life, and commitment to work in a rural farm setting. They belong to a sect founded under the leadership of Jakob Amman, a bishop in the Swiss Mennonite Church, which broke away from the less conservative parent body between 1693 and 1697.
The Mennonite movement had been established in Northern Europe in the 16th century, and was a Baptist-type organization. There was a general persecution of the Mennonites, and as a result most Amish fled from Europe to North America. Early records indicate they came to Pennsylvania in 1727. They gradually moved westward, with some settling in Minnesota.
The Amish are noted for their uniformity of dress and the self-sufficiency of their communities. Most avoid the use of electricity or automobiles or tractors. They will not bear arms or swear oaths, judicial or otherwise. They pay taxes, but do not participate in federal social security programs. (Historical material from Encyclopedia Americana, volumes 1 and 19).
Medical authorities certified the Western Hemisphere free of polio in 1994, but the back roads of Todd County were not traversed, and now there is an outbreak of this disease.
What exactly is it, and what are its effects? Polio, or the medical term, poliomyelitis, is an acute infectious disease, especially of children, causing a viral inflammation of the gray matter of the spinal cord; it may bring paralysis, which can result in permanent deformities. In the care of patients, a respirator called an ìiron lungî was used to aid breathing.
In the early 1940ís an Australian nurse, Elizabeth Kenny, who had developed a method of treating polio by the use of hot packs and exercise, came to Minneapolis. At first, her technique was not accepted by the medical profession, but when she demonstrated the benefits of her procedure, which, with early application, prevented paralysis, it was approved and used.
The Kenny Institute was opened under her direction, and she led it until her health failed. She died in 1952 at the age of 66. In Australia, nurses are called ìsister,î and so she was known as ìSister Kenny,î and her hospital was called the ìSister Kenny Institute.î
ìIn the Amish community in which I grew up, youíd hear parents say, ëIf God meant for my child to have polio, then thatís the way itís supposed to be.î (Anna Olson, 37, who was vaccinated for polio after leaving the Amish 14 years ago).
This mind-set is held by many Amish today, and makes it difficult to deal with a potential epidemic among them. Some fear the possibility of contracting polio through vaccination, or they want to defy the government by shunning the ways of the outside world.
However, some Amish are realizing the threat of the possible paralysis of their children, and are getting them vaccinated. As one man put it, ìI respect tradition, I just donít want my kids getting the polio.î (Quotations from an article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Oct. 30, 2005.)
During the past century of medical advances, there has been opposition by individuals and groups, often on religious grounds, and this conflict between faith and medicine continues.
Most religious people feel there is no genuine conflict between the two, and accept the findings of the medical world as a gift from God, and are thankful. We can hope and pray that the Amish and others who are uncomfortable with medical progress, usually to their own detriment, will accept these gracious gifts and their wonderful benefits.
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