Article April 6, 1907 Issue

The Post knows very little of the doctrinal beliefs and...

Houston (Tex.) Post

The Post knows very little of the doctrinal beliefs and practices of the sect known as Christian Scientists, beyond the fact that some of the most intelligent and representative men and women of the State believe in Christian Science and that it is their business and their right to believe in it without the slightest interference from the doctors or the Legislature. For this reason, any legislation seeking to restrict or suppress this sect is mischievous in the extreme and utterly violates the spirit of our institutions.

In the judgment of the Post, the doctors of Texas are utterly wrong in invoking the power of the State to suppress a religious sect which includes healing among its doctrines. The doctors can get along very well by attending to their own business and letting the religion of other people alone. ... It may be perfectly true that Christian Science fails; we know nothing about that. It is true that medical science also fails at times, and that the doctors have buried their mistakes by the hundreds of millions, but it would be a monstrous error to suppress medicine and surgery because of such failures. The merits of medicine and the merits of "Science" are not the question as the Post sees it. It is the question of the constitutional right of the individual to embrace whatever religion he may choose or employ whatever system of healing he may choose. This, in the judgment of the Post, is a matter with which the Legislature has nothing to do.

The schools of medicine are in continuous warfare. The allopaths would like very well to see the other schools out of business; they would even like to see doctors of their own school who advertise put out of business. Likewise, the other schools rarely speak well of the old-school doctors. It is clearly not within the province of the Legislature to adjust all these differences of opinion. Granting that certain regulations with respect to the practice of medicine are necessary, it is certainly not proper for an unscientific body like a State Legislature to undertake to adjust differences of opinion about which it is not informed.

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