Editorial July 15, 1991 Issue

Memories of medicine and childhood

Elaine Natale

For a Christian, religious intolerance must be fought with truth and patience—the methods of Christianity—not with harsh words. Always the response must be according to the Golden Rule. Christian Scientists are getting plenty of practice these days in exercising this discipline! A highly organized campaign seems bent on convincing the public that children of Christian Scientists are neglected when their parents choose prayer for healing. There's a need to set the record straight.

The fact that this is to be done in a Christian manner doesn't mean being reticent, especially when one's way of life—which has proved itself to be trustworthy—is depicted in caricature or in terms that are hardly recognizable.

Someone who grew up in a family where Christian Science was an influence recently wrote a book portraying Christian Science as a cold, intellectual system of words and a strange, ritualistic denial of normal human needs. The author mourns what he views as the ineffectiveness of prayer in the face of illness and insists he found freedom in leaving the Church's teachings. One theme is the emptiness of turning to God as an all-loving Father-Mother. He says that he suffered earaches, among other things, because of his parents' choice to turn to Christian Science instead of medical treatment for healing.

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