Dialogue With The World February 11, 2019 Issue

Caring for the children: Wisdom, humanity, and the heart of Christian healing

From the Office of Committee on Publication

Care for children is society’s first concern. It’s the primary responsibility of parents. It’s the shared responsibility of everyone. Watching as children learn, play, and simply be themselves softens human hearts as few other sights do. We all want to protect them and see them thrive. The founder of the Sentinel, Mary Baker Eddy, wrote, “Jesus loved little children because of their freedom from wrong and their receptiveness of right” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 236).

The two responses below both concern issues of parental responsibility and protection of children in today’s complex and sometimes troubled society. The first is a comment on a radio interview with a physician noted for his emphasis on the need for better understanding at the interface of medicine and religion. The interview was prompted by a case in the courts involving so-called faith-healing beliefs and practices, which are often mistakenly identified with Christian Scientists’ healing practice.

The second response is a letter to a network television commentator regarding a case that did not involve religion specifically at all, though it did present deep legal, ethical, and spiritual issues for everyone connected with it. For several weeks in 2017, news reports around the world highlighted the heart-rending story of Charlie Gard, an infant in a British hospital who had been diagnosed with a condition considered incurable and terminal. The doctors on the case sought to end medical life-support efforts. The parents disagreed. Legal authorities in the UK ultimately sided with the doctors.

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