Should Government Rule When Faith, Science Clash? : CON: Critics Ignore Important Evidence of Spiritual Healing

One’s first response to this case may be: A child died under spiritual rather than medical care; yes, we have sympathy for the parents, but they acted irrationally--medicine should be the standard in our society. Case closed.

Or is it? Consider briefly two other cases:

A dear family friend when I grew up in Los Angeles was a doctor whose daughter died of a congenital kidney disease. He never got over her death--or the feeling that, somehow, he should have been able to save her. Another friend who was diagnosed when a child as having terminal cancer was healed through Christian Science treatment. He now devotes his time to helping and healing others.

Most people would say that the death of my doctor friend’s daughter was just one of those unavoidable tragedies. If they believe in the power of prayer, they might also say that my other friend’s healing of cancer was a “miracle” that may happen from time to time, but you can’t really count on that.

But what if there is a form of spiritual healing that has healed people of serious diseases again and again in an understandable way? There’s good evidence--in fact substantial evidence, often including medical diagnosis--that Christian Science has done just this. When critics deny or minimize this evidence, they miss the most important point of all.

My friend’s healing of cancer wasn’t just an isolated case any more than the loss of my doctor friend’s daughter under medical care. That healing was one of thousands upon thousands of healings that explain why Christian Scientists go on relying on spiritual healing for their families.

Like any kind of healing, spiritual healing doesn’t happen automatically. There have been failures like the death of Robyn Twitchell. When failures for children occur, that makes news. But the real news--that consistent spiritual healing goes on happening--is news you don’t hear much about, though the cumulative evidence for it is enormous.

Little wonder that most states have statutes saying that responsible spiritual healing for children should not be seen as abuse or neglect.

Yes, the government has a duty to make sure that parents provide proper health care for children. But the government shouldn’t stop parents from practicing spiritual healing just because it differs from standard medical care. And it shouldn’t prosecute them in rare instances when children have died, especially since so many children have been healed under spiritual treatment after medicine had given up.

It’s easy to dismiss spiritual healing because it’s such a challenge to routine ways of thinking that say we are all at the mercy of physical conditions. But is this something we want to be true? Christian Scientists say the Bible in its true meaning gives us well-grounded hope and conviction that God does not impose physical suffering on his children. Rather, following Jesus through active obedience to God gives a new consciousness of God’s healing care and love.

Christian Scientists say that their study of the Bible, along with their textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, has helped them grow into this enlarged understanding of God. And that this new understanding has brought concrete healing and regenerative results--not through blind faith or “new age” wishfulness, but through response to the active reality of God’s presence.

To disagree honestly with this is everyone’s right. But the same honesty should compel us to consider the very real evidence that there is hope for humanity that few know about. It should compel us to put isolated failures among Christian Scientists in perspective, just as we do with cases lost under medical care.

With this broader perspective, people may see the injustice of the Twitchells’ prosecution and conviction. Taking the promise of spiritual healing into account, they may have hope they didn’t have before.

THE ISSUE

* David and Ginger Twitchell were convicted of manslaughter in Boston last week. They were found to have recklessly and wantonly caused the death of their 2 1/2-year-old son, Robyn, by relying solely on Christian Science spiritual healing to treat his five-day illness. The case has rekindled debate on whether the government should overrule religious beliefs that affect children.