Article October 29, 1927 Issue

Extracts from Reports of Christian Science Committees on Publication

The 1927 session of the Michigan legislature has now come to an end. No law was passed which would restrict or interfere with the rights of Christian Scientists to practice their ministry of healing. Commenting on the work of the legislative session, the Journal of the Michigan State Medical Society recently said, "This session has witnessed the introduction of an unusually large number of bills pertaining to health and medical practice." This statement calls attention to a significant current of thought, yet it is equally significant that not a single bill dealt with by our legislature this year attempted to limit the right of every individual to employ his own mode of remedial treatment. In one bill, in which this point was not specifically covered, the state health commissioner readily cooperated in recommending a suitable amendment.

The provision of law forbidding compulsory physical examination or medical treatment of school children was reenacted without change in a new code of school laws passed this session. A bill to require daily reading from the Bible in all public schools was defeated. This does not mean that Bible reading in schools is prohibited, but that it is left optional with school officers as in the past. Throughout the session this committee found the legislators and state officials uniformly considerate and attentive. For the most part they showed themselves favorably disposed to medical as well as religious freedom, and alert to safeguard individual rights.

When the session opened, a senator who is not a Christian Scientist requested that The Christian Science Monitor be supplied him. The Monitor Committee of the Detroit churches alertly offered subscriptions to our daily newspaper to the legislators from Wayne County. Churches in other communities made similar offers. The Monitor is on file in the library of the state capitol. During the session it has been heartening to read in the columns of the Monitor of progress made in law enforcement, as well as to learn that in a number of other States the practice of Christian Science has been officially recognized this year by suitable legal enactment.