Editorial September 3, 1984 Issue

The spirituality of mankind

ALLISON W. PHINNEY, JR.

In the early years of this century, a concerted attempt was made in the United States to suppress Christian Science and render its practice illegal. Society consciously rejected the attempt on grounds that it interfered with religious rights under the Constitution of the United States.

Thinking people—including legislators, newspaper editors, state governors—recognized the threat of class legislation. They also saw that the campaign represented a form of persecution and intolerance at odds with the very spirit of a country which has its roots deep in the principle of religious liberty.

As one paper editorialized: "In this country a man has the right to worship God as he pleases. The Christian Scientist is certainly religious. His belief is a religion, and the fact that it inculcates healing without medicine, as taught by Jesus Christ, should not debar him from the protection of law, nor make him an object of tyrannical legislation."  Christian Science and Legislation (Boston: The Christian Science Publishing Society, 1909), p 109 .

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