Article February 13, 1984 Issue

LETTERS TO THE PRESS

From Christian Science Committees on Publication

with contributions from NATHAN A. TALBOT

The news media today often report on important discussions of public issues that appear in professional or scholarly journals. But sometimes fine—and even not so fine—points are lost in boiling the issues down for popular consumption.

A recent example relates to two articles on Christian Science healing which appeared in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine: one highly critical of Christian Science and of current laws permitting reliance on prayer for healing, the other expressing the position of our Church on the whole matter of Christian Science and the care of children. The latter article was supplied by the Committee on Publication at the request of The New England Journal of Medicine editors. (Plans are under way to reprint the Committee on Publication article in the March 1984 issue of The Christian Science Journal.)

It was highly unusual for a medical journal to offer space for such a church statement. Unfortunately, media reporting on the discussion was not nearly so balanced! Several wire-service stories were especially misleading. The corrective letters that follow are among those sent to provide a fuller, more accurate view of Christian Scientists' perspective. To the Editor:

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