Article September 21, 1899 Issue

Christian Scientists Upheld

Chicago Times-Herald

The attorney-general of Illinois, replying to a request from the prosecuting attorney of Tuscola, Ill., for an opinion, as to his right to proceed against the parents of a child who had died under Christian Science treatment, holds that the laws of Illinois do not prohibit the treatment of disease by mental and spiritual methods employed by Christian Scientists or others, where no medicine is used, and that where a person dies under such treatment it is not an offence under the criminal code of the state. The attorney-general says,—

"I am of the opinion that the criminal code has not been violated. Section 42 of an act to amend an act entitled 'An Act to Prevent and Punish Wrongs to Children,' approved May 17, 1877, in force July 1, 1877 (approved June 21, 1895; in force July 1, 1895), is the only provision of the criminal code that can by any possibility be held applicable to such a case. It reads,—

" 'It shall be unlawful for any person having the care and custody of any such child wilfully to cause or permit the life of such child to be endangered or the health of such child to be injured, or to wilfully cause or permit such child to be placed in such a situation that its life or health may be endangered.'

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

New Theory of Sickness