This paper focuses on faith−based medical neglect in order to analyze the problem, how should social majority, which manages legal system, respond to disobedience of religious minorities. As an object of case−study I take up an incident, in which a seven−month−old baby boy died of serious atopic dermatitis. In this case parents of the dead baby were arrested and prosecuted for Abandonment Causing Death by Person Responsible for Protection. Police and public prosecutor claimed, “These parents neglected to take their baby to the hospital and gave him no appropriate medical cure.” However parents did “cure” by means of “Therapeutic Touch” (placing their hands near a patient), based upon their religious belief. Their behavior was regarded as “medical neglect” by reason that they did not cure their baby based on Modern Western Medicine. In this paper I would show relativity and limitation of Modern Western Medicine (that Modern Western Medicine is one of various curing methods, therefore we could never say that Modern Western Medicine is the one and only appropriate medical cure) with the help of studies on “Complementary and Alternative Medicine” (CAM), History and Philosophy of Science, Medical Anthropology. In the end this paper comes to conclusion (1) that curing method based on Modern Western Medicine cannot be superior to other methods, for example, “Therapeutic Touch” on religious doctrine (both of them are in principle placed on an equal plane), (2) that “We” namely social majority should manage legal system and state power in moderate and reflective posture. In the discussion on moderation and reflectiveness it made reference to studies on “crime of conscience” in German legal philosophy, especially to Gustav Radbruch’s argument about “Überzeugungstäter.” Radbruch suggested that person (“Überzeugungstäter”), which commits to offense for political / religious reasons, should receive imprisonment without hard labor in order to save her / his honor.
