No, I don't mean the Crusades, or the Inquisition, or the Sept. 11 attacks, or Shari'a law, or the upteen million instances of religious ethnic cleansing.

In this particular case, I'm talking about a 16-year-old Oregon boy who just recently died a rather horrible death.

Neal Beagley lived in a family of "faith healers" who eschew any and all aspects of western medicine, relying on faith and prayer to cure what ails ya.

Neal and his family began praying extra hard once Neal fell ill last week. Neal had a blockage in his urinary tract, something that could be cleared in a few minutes with a simple catheter.

As the toxins slowly built up in his bloodstream, gradually poisoning his heart and kidneys, Neal's condition worsened: the pains in his stomach grew and his breath became shallower. Other members from the family's church came over and prayed with them on Sunday, but by Tuesday he was dead - his heart finally gave out.

It must have been an excruciatingly painful way to die. And while it hurts to hear about how Neal died, it hurts even more to know what a pointless, easily preventable death it was.

Neal's parents are not being charged with his death, as Oregon law states that people older than 14 have the right to refuse medical treatment.

This comes on the heels of the death of one of Neal's cousins, a 15-month-old girl who died of bronchial pneumonia and a blood infection. Her parents, also members of the same congregation as Neal's, are being charged.

(The full AP article is available here.)

I wonder what Neal's parents are thinking. Did they not pray hard enough? Did they do something to anger God? Or is this just God acting in one of his "mysterious ways?"

Maybe they'll begin to question the very notion that there is a God up there, one who created the entirety of the universe, set up the laws of physics, created 10,000 kinds of grasshopper, but is still very concerned about what you eat, how you have sex, and whether or not a guy in a white lab coat can use a 10 cent plastic tube to save your son's life. Well, maybe that's asking too much.