Article May 6, 1985 Issue

Fresh perspective on some current public issues regarding spiritual healing

In recent weeks, issues regarding Christian Science and the practice of spiritual healing have attracted widespread public attention. There has been extensive media coverage of an outbreak of measles at a privately run college for Christian Scientists, among a number of other academic institutions; of new developments in prosecutions of Christian Scientist parents in California (as reported in the March 11, 1985, issue of the Sentinel); and of attempts to enact state laws which would seek to make spiritual healing for children a criminal offense.

The real "news" about Christian Science, of course, is its astonishing record of effective healing—for children and adults alike—over many years. The overall tendency of the media, however, has been to accept a materialist framework which denies the possibility of spiritual healing in discussing issues concerning Christian Science now before the public.

It is important that justice be done to Christian Scientists and their efforts to practice spiritual healing. But this does not come through bluster or denominational defensiveness. It comes, rather, through the steadfastness and spiritual clarity that will help humanity gain an unobstructed view of the presence of the Comforter in its midst.

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