“I fear the loss of my rights!” A friend was lamenting a plethora of rules, policies, and laws considered or enacted to manage the spread of the coronavirus. Employers, government officials, and medical authorities—acting on their judgment about how to cope with a pandemic—have recommended or required social distancing, masking, vaccinations, quarantining, testing for disease, and more. 

Most people are willing to go along with efforts to promote health and safety for everyone. But some, like my friend, worry that ever-tightening regulations will threaten freedom of movement, self-government of the body, and individual health-care choices far into the future. 

In my own prayers to support public welfare and retain sovereignty over my life and body, I find guidance in remembering that we have inviolable spiritual rights under God. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, explains, “God has endowed man with inalienable rights, among which are self-government, reason, and conscience” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 106). Self-government, reason, and conscience are not temporal human assets at the mercy of community statutes, corporate policy, or state legislation. Because they are God-derived, these rights transcend human sanction. They are enforced by divine decree, and are forever ours to exercise and enjoy.