Article November 25, 1916 Issue

The chief justice of the New York court of appeals, in a...

Austin (Texas) American

The chief justice of the New York court of appeals, in a memorandum accompanying a decision handed down by that court last week, said, "I deny the power of the legislature to make it a crime to treat disease by prayer." This was in the decision of the celebrated Cole case, in which the defendant, a Christian Scientist, had been charged with practising medicine without a license and convicted. The court of last resort in New York state reversed the finding of the court below and discharged the defendant.

The decision was a signal victory for a people who believe absolutely in the efficacy of prayer,—believe in it to a degree exceeding the accepted tenets of the general churches of the Christian religion. In their excess of belief they have often found themselves in conflict with the laws of the land, and in this case the court specifically held that where a person goes forth to practise medicine for gain, for pay, be the method of practice what it may, be must comply with the laws enacted for the protection of the public health. But in this case it was different, and the act complained of appears to have been in keeping with the principle laid down by the chief justice, and was a question of religious belief and prayer,—prayer expected to be recompensed, not in return of worldly pelf, but in the promise of the divine Ruler.

Where this decision is of particular interest to others than the members of the Church of Christ, Scientist, is in that it upholds that constitutional guaranty given every American citizen for the full, free, and unhampered pursuit of his own religious beliefs. This decision is only an accentuation of that many times established law which too often has been attacked by designing persons or through religious jealousies. It tends to clarify an atmosphere which has too often been clouded by these causes, and will prove far reaching in its effect.

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