Article November 18, 1905 Issue

Christian Science Treatment, the Practice of Christianity

SAMUEL GREENWOOD.

Objections have been raised against the practice of Christian Science healing, on the ground that it cannot properly be classed as a religious or Christian practice. Attention has been called to the use by Christian Scientists of the word "treatment" in place of the word "prayer," and it is claimed that this denotes a professional rather than a religious act. The conclusion that Christian Scientists are therefore amenable to the laws regulating the practice of medicine is hasty and unwarranted unless the premises can be sustained by fact. No profession, system, method, or religion can claim proprietary use of common words; neither can medical nor other curative systems claim suzerainty over the healing of the sick. Both common usage and human rights are opposed to all such monopoly.

In defining the practice of the Christian religion the court or the legislature cannot accept or be guided by the tenets or beliefs of any particular denomination or organization. To allow equal rights to all, and permit the freedom of religious conviction so sacredly cherished by our forefathers. and guaranteed by the constitution of nearly every civilized country, the only definition that is broad enough to cover every case is that given by the Founder of Christianity as recorded in the New Testament. To deviate from his standard in judging any particular case would be a serious menace to the integrity of any constitution which aims to safeguard the religious freedom of the citizen. The only limitations which can legitimately be exercised are where the peace, safety, or morality of the community is endangered.

The charges which have been made against Christian Scientists concerning their method of caring for the sick are based on the assumption that healing, legally considered, is not a feature of Christianity. The decisive question, however, regarding these charges, is not what any medical school may believe regarding the treatment of disease, but whether there is anything in Jesus' teachings, or in the history of Christianity, which will sustain Christian Scientists as within their rights, when they treat the sick without drugs or other material agencies. It is noteworthy in this connection that no objections have been urged against the means employed by them in healing the sinful and depraved, although identical with the means employed in healing the diseased. The debauchee, the thief, the vicious, may resort to Christian Science without fear of protest or prosecution, although in greater need of the right remedy than the physical invalid.

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