Article December 18, 1902 Issue

An Interesting Comment

Chicago Public

WHY is it that so many educated men are so feeble at distinguishing differences? An example occurs to us in connection with the recent proclamation of Mrs. Eddy, the Christian Science Leader, in which she advises her followers to bow before hostile public sentiment to the extent of allowing the employment of physicians in the treatment of infectious and contagious diseases. It ought to be perfectly plain to any fair-minded man of intelligence that this is no recantation. There is nothing in the proclamation to indicate that Mrs. Eddy has not as much faith as ever in the efficacy of her teachings. On the other hand, it is a manifest mark of respect for the rights of others. Since others than Christian Scientists fear these diseases and have no confidence in her theory regarding them, a persistence in her methods would subject them, at any rate in their own minds, to the dangers of sickness and death. She therefore proposes that their right to protect themselves by their own methods against infection and contagion, even though she thinks those methods superstitious, be recognized by her followers. Her conduct in this matter should command respect. It is infinitely more exalted than the narrow behavior of many of her adversaries, who regard her teachings as superstitious. Yet it is made the occasion of fresh attack, and in at least two instances that have come to our attention she is grossly misrepresented. Two Chicago clergymen of education, and presumably honest, referred in their sermons last Sunday to this action of hers as a recantation. Neither seemed capable of appreciating the difference between recantation and generous acknowledgment of the rights of others.

From an editorial in Chicago Public.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

An Interesting Comment

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access