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Dear Sir: With regard to your article, I suggest you re-think your facts. Christian Science is not a "faith based" healing religion. Have you ever read the Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures by the founder and discoverer - Mary Baker Eddy? Once you read her book you might feel differently. Clumping Christian Science with other religions that are trying to heal their sick children soley on faith, is inaccurate and unfair to do.
Have you every checked the statitstics of how many children die under the care of a doctor and or hospital staff? The ratio is great, and by far many many more children pass on due to carelessness, ignorance, indifference from the person(s)administrating medicine to the child (ern).
I've been a life-long Christian Scientist, I have never had an immunization shot, never seriously ill. If we were required to get shots i.e. such as entering the military, we never go against the laws of our government, and we always cooperate with what is required of us by law. For instance, I prefer to rely soley on Christian Science when giving birth, and having a mid-wife handle everything. But the law states I must give birth with a licensed doctor, or have one present. This has never been a problem for me ( I have 3 children), and in fact every doctorI have had that helped to deliver my children tell me that their Christian Science patients always have a much easier time with their deliveries. I wonder why?
I was healed of deafness at age 6, and the healing took about a week. My Father was frightened, and even though my father was a Christian Scientist, he decided to have a doctor examine my ears. The doctor told my parents I would need surgery. Instead, my parents decided to rely soley on prayer. I was back to hearing very quickly. Christian Scientists do not preach that people should not go to doctors, we support any ones choice as to what they want to do should they become ill. We believe that prayer is better route to take, rather than relying on medicine.
It has been my experience that once I reach a healing, the healing is permanent. The physical problem never returns, whereas with medicine and or surgery you don't have that guarantee.
I am sorry your article was printed, when it is obvious you do not have a clear understanding of how Christian Scientits apply simple truths to achieve permanent healings.
I couldn't imagine having to always wake up every morning to take medicine, pills, etc, to stay well. I have had many dramatic healings throughout my life, and so have my children and grand children.
Have you every attended a Wednesday evening testimonial meeting? This is where Christian Scientists and sometimes non Christian Scientists get together and stand up and often testify to a healing that took place in their life. Have you ever attended a Christian Science Lecture or been to a Reading Room?
You might try and visit.
Thank you for your time.

Doesn't it sound like all the Christian Scientists have the same writer? There is no variety in these voices. They parrot a line of reasoning that has been carefully crafted by their in-house (church) publicists. But the amazing thing is that they expect you to believe their stories. As a rule, they self-diagnose and self-describe their "healings." They claim these are medically corroborated but they are unwilling to offer hard evidence. The church magazines that publish their "testimonies" do not engage in rigorous checking and tend to accept the mere affirmations of fellow church members as to the integrity of the testifiers as sufficient "proof." Church members have learned the lingo but those who haven't have their testimonials heavily edited by the publishers to conform to the ideal.

Let's face it, there are billions of dollars to be made from any system that accomplishes what these people profess to do on a daily basis. So far there have been no takers. For a very simple reason: it does not work as believers claim. The greying of the Christian Science church, and its rapidly dwindling numbers of adherents, are indications that fewer and fewer people can swallow such a system both for health care or for inspiration to face life's problems.

You have been asked to speak to a Christian Scientist to be educated and convinced. I suggest you also talk to former Christian Scientists, people who learned the whole thing and tested it for many years only to be shaken by reality and forced by pure honesty to repudiate the whole doctrine and enterprise. I am one of many.

The concept that the government is afraid to regulate religious behavior is pure hogwash. Look at plural marriage as a prime example. Most people in this nation think of Mormons when Polygamy is mentioned but it is also a practice in many Islamic nations. But illegal here.

No child deserves to die because of the religious beliefs of their parents. I would question any parent's love for their child who allowed this to happen.

It is at best abuse, at worst, murder.

am a Christian but i do believe that we need doctors
as an instrument of our healing. our prayer of faith has to go with understanding that God uses midicines
for our physical healing. we shouldn't be hyper faith though as if God give us different gift inorder to help one another and pray one another.

This doesnt surprise me in the least.

However, the problem isn't necessarily religion. The problem is that there is no safeguard within the religions themselves (no religion has any safeguards) to prevent people from living like this - in a schizoid conspiracy-fantasy with Anthony Fremont (Twilight Zone: 'It's a Good Life') at the helm. There are no safeguards to prevent young Muslims from blowing up busses filled with Jewish schoolchildren, there are no safeguards to prevent believers from endangering the lives of others by passing irresponsible legislation favoring abstinence-only sex education, and there are no safeguards to prevent good Christian parents (I say that with frightening sarcasm) from witholding life-saving medical procedures in favor of aid from imaginary entities who, according to Scripture, resemble only the most evil, uncaring, diabolical, megalomaniacal, dishonest, conniving, self-interested, jealous characters in both fiction and history, such as Josef Stalin and Anthony Fremont.

When our foster son came to live with us at age 9, he was attending a special school for educationally subnormal children, his movements were stiff and he was rather slow. He was afraid to use the climbing frames at the playground He could not tie his own shoelaces, tell the time, count to more than 12, or read. His eyes would water when he watched TV. His mother was 16 when she gave birth to him in a home for unwed mothers. He had seen a baby half-brother die of starvation.
He was christened Lutheran, put into a Roman Catholic children's home at age seven, and finally came to us and began attending the Christian Science Sunday School. He loved what he was learning there about God as his Mother and Father, always caring for him and loving him. The Bible stories read to him each evening before going to sleep were something he looked forward to.
With prayer, love and encouragement he improved physically and mentally. When he was about 10 or 11, we sent him to a children's camp for 10 days' vacation. A camp counsellor called us one evening, telling us our son had injured his arm while playing, his hand was at an odd angle and the boy was unable to straighten it. I immediately started to pray, affirming our son's inseparable relationship with God. Soon we received another call from the counsellor, saying our son was sleeping peacefully and then hand seemed to be in a normal position again. I continued praying. The following morning the counsellor informed us that our son was up and doing his normal activities and couldn't even remember which hand was injured. There was no sign of any accident. When we picked him up later that day, he was just fine and never had another problem with either of his hands.
On another occasion he badly burned the palm of his hand at a barbecue. When we read the Bible that evening, he showed me the hand and told me what had happened. We prayed together. He fell asleep. The next morning his hand was healed - no sign of a burn.
I received a call from his class teacher, telling me he had injured his eye, requesting me to pick him up and take him to an optician. She was desperately worried that his sight would be permanently hampered. On the way to the school, I prayed. By the time I arrived, he was smiling and totally well. When he watched TV after that, his eyes no longer watered and six months later, when the Youth Office requested us to take him for an eye test, because his half-brother was going blind and they thought he might also be affected through heredity, his eyes were found to be perfect - better than when he had started living with us.
When our son was about 14, I need to be away for a few days at a conference. Before leaving he stated having a nosebleed. It was severe and wouldn't stop, so I called a Christian Science practitioner for support through prayer. I left our son with my husband. He reported that the bleeding had stopped and our son, who is now father to six children, has not had a nosebleed since.
When he left home to go to the army, the Youth Office expressed amazement that he had managed to achieve a school-leaving certificate and that he had never needed a doctor in the nine years that he lived with us. His health was found to be good when he was examined for the army.
My son and I have a very good relationship. When he was around 16 or 17, I asked him if he would like to get in touch with his blood parents. He showed no interest.
He is a wonderful father to his own four and his two adopted children.
Having been a lifelong Christian Scientist and having raised a son in it, I would not choose any other method of healing. The things I was medically treated for as a child, growing up in a country where medical treatment was compulsory for children under 16, all returned later and were not permanently healed until treated in Christian Science. I have had healings of malaria, hepatitis, hair loss, appendicitis, influenza, broken bones, conjunctivitis, growths, injured tendons, anaemia, low blood pressure, and many more, through prayer alone, not to mention that fact that I am in excellent health, hear and see well, and enjoy a very active working life as a senior, who takes no medicine of any description and has lived a life without medicine. I praise God daily for His great power and goodness.

I just want to emphasize that its not just children its people of all ages. I dont think this abuse... its like being in an acult. i dont think that practice of christian science is a cult, but i do believe that they take it to the extreme. God has given us the availibility of modern medicine, and yes i believe that God can still do miracles, because just having modern medicine is a miracle. We have the availability to it while people in third world countries, and even people in our own countries dont. So i think that the medicine we have is a miracle from God and should not be take forgranted.

The main reason for the separation of church and state, is that when religion holds political power it is corrupted. All religious wants are not tolerated. A Morman may not have multiple wives in this country. A Rastafarian may not even smoke pot. So no one's religion holds absolute sway over civil law.
A literal view of the Bible holds that evolution didn't happen,the Earth is the center of the Universe, and the Sun travels around the Earth. We have a law that requires children to use car seats and seatbelts, I don't think we need to allow parents to kill their children in the name of their religion.

Nothing fails like prayer. Parents who refuse medical treatment for their kids should be charged with first degree murder if the child dies. Either an LWOP sentence or death, just get them the hell away from society.

I am a third generation Christian Science who has relied exclusively on prayer for healing of myself and my family. My wife and I reared two beautiful daughters (now 25 & 26) and witnessed many physical healings through prayer and prayer alone. While Mr. Peters motives are undoubtedly for the protection of children, it's unfortunte he failed to more thoroughly research my faith. If he had done so he would have undoubtedly read our weekly Sentinel Magazine and Monthly Journal Magazine. Each issue shares authenticated cases of spritual healing taking place today around the world. I am grateful the United States of America ensures me the right to practice Christian Science - what for my family has been the safest, most effective means of healthcare.

To quote Christ Jesus to express my sentiments towards this article; "..Forgive them father, for they know not what they do."
Respectfully submitted,

Greg Armstrong

I share a similar experience to RM and Mark in that I wasn't raised in Christian Science. Instead, I found it after a search through several religions and much spiritual reading, in my early 20’s. To me, its teachings made perfect sense and I wanted to raise my daughter this way. Here is the difference between her health as a child and my own (raised in a family that relied on medicine). I experienced earaches every winter which were extremely painful. She had one earache as a toddler which was gone 10 minutes after calling a Christian Science practitioner for help through prayer. I experienced plantar warts on my feet which had to frozen off and dug out by a doctor. She had plantar warts which were healed (they simply disappeared over a few weeks) as we worked on expressing more gratitude to God. My husband is not a Christian Scientist so we have always had an agreement that if there was a life-threatening emergency we would take her to a doctor, but we have never had to.

If any of you are struggling with an illness that you have been told is incurable, you may want to do some research and actually learn what Christian Science is about. If you go into a Christian Science Reading Room no one will try to “indoctrinate” you. They will simply answer your questions in a loving manner.

I don’t believe there exists a parent who can witness the suffering of a child and not immediately turn spiritually, emotionally and physically to what he or she is convinced is the most effective curative agent, whether that be God or medical care. Throughout my life, every problem encountered by myself and my family – and there were many – were solved through Christian Science prayer. Some of the healings experienced by our son were instant, none were protracted. Our reaction to any problem was always to turn to God as an immediately available healing source that our experience had proved to produce the best results. We honor the medical professionals for their selfless work to bring about healing, but for us, turning to God in prayer has always been the most effective help in trouble. And the 'side effects' of prayer are always beneficial!

freaking idiots. No wonder the PTB can lead us down a path of destruction so obvious.

Nexthuman,
To me a child’s safety is very important and I’m sure any parent wants the best care for their child. I think what we are seeing is a difference in experiences. You may not have seen or experienced healing through prayer, but many have. Perhaps I can offer and experience I had.
When I was a teenager I had a pretty serious skiing accident, the ski patrol that looked me over said I had a severe concussion. Within two hours of turning to prayer I was completely healed of all effects, including memory loss. Through out my life I have turned to prayer for healings. I always have a choice but choose prayer because it has been so effective.
Since the late nineteenth century thousands of people have been healed of all kinds of sickness and diseases through Christian Science treatment.
The fact is, we all want the best care for our children and if Christians Science treatment is looked at fairly and accurately there will be no questions of its healing record and its effectiveness as a health care system.

It is situations like those that I put parents who feel their "religion" is more important than their own child's life on the same level as rapists and child molestors. ALL of them are evil to children.

Frank, I know of no C.S who would allow their children to die. Like myself, the Christian Scientists I know would move heaven and earth to insure that their children received the best care possible.

During childhood and for some years after that I relied on medical help for my health care. It was a revelation to me to learn of Christian Science as a consistently reliable way to stay healthy. I found it to be a safe and dependable way to care for my son, as well. He was healed quickly of childhood diseases (after we reported them to the proper authorities, as we are instructed to do as law abiding citizens); he was also healed of burns (within a few minutes), a deep cut on his hand (also very quickly) and many other healings. I too have had many healings through the years; but more importantly, I am grateful for the spiritual growth that is the inevitable outcome of healing through Christian Science. This is an important point that has yet to be mentioned.

Frank, I know of no Christian Scientist who would allow their children to die. Like myself, the Christian Scientists I know would move heaven and earth to insure that their children received the best care possible.

During childhood and for some years after that I relied on medical help for my health care. It was a revelation to me to learn of Christian Science as a consistently reliable way to stay healthy. I found it to be a safe and dependable way to care for my son, as well. He was healed quickly of childhood diseases (after we reported them to the proper authorities, as we are instructed to do as law abiding citizens); he was also healed of burns (within a few minutes), a deep cut on his hand (also very quickly) and many other healings. I too have had many healings through the years; but more importantly, I am grateful for the spiritual growth that is the inevitable outcome of healing through Christian Science. This is an important point that has yet to be mentioned.

In my opinion, anyone who allows a child to die because of their religion should be tried, convicted, and sent for life to a maximum security prison with other premeditated murderers. I don't believe in capital punishment.

In my opinion, anyone who allows a child to die because of their religion should be tried, convicted, and sent for life to a maximum security prison with other premeditated murderers. I don't believe in capital punishment.

When are people going to realise it doesnt work? I refer to the following report... http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/31/health/31pray.html

And another thing... these abused and neglected children are children of Christian/Jewish/Muslim/(insert religion here) parents: not Christian/Jewish/Muslim/(insert religion here children)
They are too young to have made a decision regarding religion.
Its a fact that organised religion has killed far more in the name of God/Jehovah/Allah etc than anything else combined!

Darwinism at its finest. Perhaps with more fanatical jesushead christians denying medicine to their sick children, the fanatic gene will die off and more rational people survive.

Ya gotta love natural selection, its really for the best ya know.

Jesus said that He would judge nations based on how the sick and imprisoned and naked and hungry were treated. If that is so, how much harsher would He judge the parent that allows their child to suffer such torments? Spirituality is not an excuse for child abuse of any form.

This is an easy topic. God does not exist and should not be recognized. In this way, the evil of religion will have no effect on society, or for that matter, on innocent children.

So basically if murder is a tenant of my religion, I should be allowed to murder. That is the Christian Science argument. Have fun in prison.

If the limited scope of Mr. Peter's article represented the whole truth I'd be as outraged as many who have commented. The suffering and death of any child is too sad for words. Yet painting all spiritual healing with the same brush is simply not accurate.

I was raised in a loving Christian household (Catholic); my mother was a nurse and my grandfather a highly respected doctor. I was taught that the best healthcare included, among other things, medical treatment. In grad school I sustained a debilitating running injury that persisted even after a year of conventional treatment. Just walking around was painful. During that year I met a Christian Scientist who said he relied only on prayer for healing – a strange concept to me at the time. But I was desperate so I began to read the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, just to see what it was about. No one told me to read it, no one ever pressured me in any way. (Reading that book led me to read and study the Bible, which had not been a big part of my early religious experience.) I always felt I could ‘fall back’ on conventional medicine if I ever needed to. I am an engineer by training (MIT and Stanford) so I tested out what I was learning, to see why it was called Christian *Science*. What I learned convinced me that Christian Science is not faith healing, but based on understanding God’s law of Love. Well, my foot was healed entirely through prayer and I’ve been back running trails ever since then. That was over 20 years ago and since that time I’ve had many other healings through prayer, and I’ve never felt a need for medical treatment.

My husband (who was raised in Christian Science) and I love our young children dearly and, like all parents, want to provide them the best healthcare possible. We don’t deny medical care for our children; we choose Christian Science prayer because it has consistently proved so effective for us. I am not suggesting what’s right for anyone else, but in the interest of ‘shedding light’ I simply want to say that in my experience and that of many others I know, Christian Science prayer heals.

In answer to Meri's question "Wouldn't it be much more prudent to seek healing from as many sources as possible?": If every time I rely on Christian Science prayer I find healing for myself and my children, what need have I to turn to something else?

Children dead, or parents dictated to by the government as to how to raise their children. Difficult choice. Where is the line drawn?
I hate having the "Safety of Children" used as an excuse for every intrusion into our lives, but I also hate hearing about children being left to suffer intense pain and horrible death from atrocious diseases. I've no easy answer, and I don't think anyone with children would have one. If I'm wrong, please, please share your thoughts.

Forcing children to believe nonsense and fairy tales is itself a form of child abuse. Fundamentalism (of ALL forms) is inseparable from child abuse - typically, adults aren't gullible enough to buy into such silliness.

And children who are brainwashed in this way tend to similarly abuse their own children.

This vicious circle of fundamentalist child abuse must stop!

Forcing children to believe nonsense and fairy tales is itself a form of child abuse. Fundamentalism (of ALL forms) is inseparable from child abuse - typically, adults aren't gullible enough to buy into such silliness.

And children who are brainwashed in this way tend to similarly abuse their own children.

This vicious circle of fundamentalist child abuse must stop!

I dont think right-to-lifers think that is Ok. Its just a matter of efficient use of time.

best religious excuse for religious stupidity I've come across in a long time.

I don't comdemn any of the posters on this blog for their hatred and vitriol towards Christian Scientists. However, anyone who has done an open minded, honest investigation of Christian Science beliefs and practices, read our textbook "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures", could not harbor such ill will or claim that Christian Science isn't Christian. So, I can not be offended by their ignorance.

My wife and I and our 3 children have had so many healings it is not possible to list them here.

Neither my wife or I were born into Christian Science. We live it now because of the success in healing we have had. The word Science is used because it is provable when its Principles are applied. I believe something I've proven to myself is true.

As a previous post said, come see us, you'll be surprised who we are: engineers, architects, contractors, IT people, programmers, bankers, sales people, etc. just like the rest of America.

You can find us in any phone book under "Christian Science".

I don't comdemn any of the posters on this blog for their hatred and vitriol towards Christian Scientists. However, anyone who has done an open minded, honest investigation of Christian Science beliefs and practices, read our textbook "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures", could not harbor such ill will or claim that Christian Science isn't Christian. So, I can not be offended by their ignorance.

My wife and I and our 3 children have had so many healings it is not possible to list them here.

Neither my wife or I were born into Christian Science. We live it now because of the success in healing we have had. The word Science is used because it is provable when its Principles are applied. I believe something I've proven to myself is true.

As a previous post said, come see us, you'll be surprised who we are: engineers, architects, contractors, IT people, programmers, bankers, sales people, etc. just like the rest of America.

You can find us in any phone book under "Christian Science".

There is no god. Man is only an animal.

I have experienced and witnessed healings in my life that can't be explained by medical science - the natural birth of my son just before I was about to be sliced open for a caesarean section, my brother's instantaneous healing (confirmed by a doctor) of mastoiditous, a healing of melanoma - also confirmed by a doctor. My husband, who is not a Christian Scientist, has witnessed so many of these healings that he once told me, "You know, in other Christian churches, healing is considered a miraculous thing. But in Christian Science, it's just an every day happening." I consider God to be, literally, Good - natural Good, Love, Truth. I consider it natural to be healthy and whole and happy. So I don't consider healings through God to be miracles - just the manifestation of the natural good we're all entitled to.

I respect my husband's wishes regarding medical treatment for our sons and would not hesitate to take my sons to a doctor if that was what he wanted, or if I myself felt that was what was needed at that time. But any honest medical doctor will tell you that medical science is not an exact science and that it doesn't have all the answers and can't guarantee cure.

About non-Christian Scientists speaking about the beliefs and inner workings of Christian Scientists - if you want to know what a Christian Scientist believes I suggest you go right to the source - ask a Christian Scientist. I'm alway wary of anyone who claims to know what's going on inside someone else's thoughts, or who claims to be an expert on someone else's identity or beliefs. Ignorance and fear and hatred seem to all be connected, don't they?

Mr. Peters has lumped some diverse groups together as if their approaches were all basically the same, so it would be helpful to clarify some points in regard to Christian Science.

The parents I’ve known who are Christian Scientists, including my own, have been as loving and attentive to their children’s needs as one could ask for. Nothing has been more important to them than their children’s health and welfare, and that’s one of the reasons they have relied on Christian Science for their children, as they do for themselves. Relying on it is their natural choice. It is not mandated by the church.

Prayer in Christian Science is not merely hoping God will heal, or waiting to see if it’s God’s will that someone live. Instead, prayer involves the intelligent application of the truth taught by Christ Jesus, to cure sickness and disease and lift people out of sin. This Christian system of healing has been practiced successfully by tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people for over 130 years.

Contrary to the approach of others whom Mr. Peters cites, Christian Scientists are taught to obey the laws of the land. Our religion does not and would not advocate a disregard for law.

David Kennedy
Christian Science Practitioner

It would probably be better to make it so the idiots can't breed!!!

That which we call God is omnipotent and controls all events in the Universe. For a man to ignore God when God places a mechanism of healing before his eyes is disobedience. In the case of a child, for which a man has a duty to God to protect, when he fails then that man will have lose God's precious gift. There are no accidents. There is no such thing as luck or chaos. All things happen for logical reasons, without exception. When we choose to ignore those reasons and fail to recognize God's careful and persistent guidance then we bring suffering on ourselves until God decides we have suffered enough, teaches us where we went wrong and provides us the gift of repentance. It is only then we are forgiven. Religion is designed to hide God and that has always been its purpose. When we place our trust in a book or a Religion then we suffer. We are to place our trust only in God. We have bound ourselves to fiction and wonder why "bad" things happen to us. Suffering serves a logical purpose in that it is the only time we look into ourselves and try to find the answer to relieve the pain. Sadly, most people ignore the answer. To learn that lesson is an important reason why we are here in the first place. Know differently,

Roage

It’s the saddest of sad things. When a child dies. No one wants a child to die. I have two children. I am also a Christian Scientist. I would take my children to a doctor in a hot minute if my prayer was ineffective. I would also give my life for theirs and not think twice. For two generations my family has relied on Christian Science for its health care needs. To you, and the readers of this blog, I’d say – Come and see. Come to a Christian Science service. See who Christian Scientists are. See their children. Their activities, services, and lives are in full public view.

It’s the saddest of sad things. When a child dies. No one wants a child to die. I have two children. I am also a Christian Scientist. I would take my children to a doctor in a hot minute if my prayer was ineffective. I would also give my life for theirs and not think twice. For two generations my family has relied on Christian Science for its health care needs. To you, and the readers of this blog, I’d say – Come and see. Come to a Christian Science service. See who Christian Scientists are. See their children. Their activities, services, and lives are in full public view.

Faith in some sense is almost ubiquitous across our world, but it's not entirely ubiquitous. Unnecessary pain and premature death are entirely ubiquitous in varying degree. Their sources can be correlated, sure. There was a time though too when it was common to blame illness on a lack of faith, or on having the wrong faith. In this way blaming illness directly on the ignorance prevalent in faith is a graduation of sorts but there's no real answers in that theory.

As Human beings our overwhelmingly ubiquitous capacity for delusion is a much better place to start, and the answers to that conundrum lie in the future of science and technology, not in sociology, morality, or ethics.

Faith in some sense is almost ubiquitous across our world, but it's not entirely ubiquitous. Unnecessary pain and premature death are in varying degree. Their sources can be correlated sure. There was a time too though when it was common to blame illness on a lack of faith, or on having the wrong faith. In this way blaming illness directly on the ignorance prevalent in faith is a graduation of sorts but there's no real answers in that theory.

As Human beings our overwhelmingly ubiquitous capacity for delusion is a much better place to start, and the answers to that conundrum lie in the future of science and technology, not in sociology or ethics.

If gov.org wants to prosecute parents for following their religious beliefs and step in and force medical treatment for children, then the government agents who do so need to be held accountable for the wellbeing of those children. If a child is taken and forced to use medical therapy rather than spiritual and the medical therapy fails, then the government agents need to be tried for murder and put to death if convicted.

Bias. This article is bias. People have their own believe similar to jews and having their children foreskin cut-off when they are babies. The truth is that is your personal believe and one should respect that. Yes, its a religious belief they have a reason for this, as much as we may think or believe it is immortal. EVERYONE has the right to their own belief and if that is at the cost of torture of the child. There has been worse crimes done in America because of the government, like fight for a useless war that has no meaning. Rather these parents are doing it on a believe we as HUMANS are allowed to have our own believes and not let it be judge in the eyes of anyone but who we believe to be our savor.

About the doctor-thing: I was raised with a father who was non-religious and a mother who was a Christian Scientist. My mom always respected my dad's wishes regarding medical treatment for us. And my dad saw enough healings through CS over the years, that he developed respect for Christian Science treatment.

I am married to a non-Christian Scientist and we have used both medical treatment and Christian Science treatment for our sons. I have great respect for medical practitioners and all that they do to try to help their patients. I have sometimes visited doctors myself - but honestly, I've never experienced healing through medical treatment. Maybe you need to have a certain faith in medical treatment to experience healing through it, and at heart I'm a medical non-believer.

It's kind of hard to explain a whole way of life in a few paragraphs. And I can't pretend that I'm speaking for all Christian Scientists here - we're a pretty diverse group of people, really - and I can only speak for myself and my own understanding of this way of life. I try to use my understanding of God (Love, Truth) to make the world a better place.

About the doctor-thing: I was raised with a father who was non-religious and a mother who was a Christian Scientist. My mom always respected my dad's wishes regarding medical treatment for us. And my dad saw enough healings through CS over the years, that he developed respect for Christian Science treatment.

I am married to a non-Christian Scientist and we have used both medical treatment and Christian Science treatment for our sons. I have great respect for medical practitioners and all that they do to try to help their patients. I have sometimes visited doctors myself - but honestly, I've never experienced healing through medical treatment. Maybe you need to have a certain faith in medical treatment to experience healing through it, and at heart I'm a medical non-believer.

It's kind of hard to explain a whole way of life in a few paragraphs. And I can't pretend that I'm speaking for all Christian Scientists here - we're a pretty diverse group of people, really - and I can only speak for myself and my own understanding of this way of life. I try to use my understanding of God (Love, Truth) to make the world a better place.

¿Christians first, citizens afterwards?

This is so wrong.

Remembering some of Locke, Hume and Rousseau, whenever we live in an organized society (i.e. The U. S. of A.) we are citizens FIRST, because we agreed to the idea of the "social contract". We agreed to live in society organized and ruled by laws so we can protect our main rights like the right to live or private property.

If a citizen where to consider itself some other thing before a citizen, then it could be interpreted as that such citizen voids the "social contract" and, in theory, it is not entitled to the protection of such.

On the contrary, if a citizen is entitled to all protections an organized society offers, then such citizen must also follow such society's laws first.

Based on this argument, Courts may over-rule anti-social behavior masked behind religious pretext such as neglecting a child of it's entitled medical assistance.

Excuse my grammar, English is not my native tongue.

For every few cases like the ones described by the author there are 10,000 cases of abuse and death of patients at the hands of doctors. The AMA admits to 110,000 cases of iatrogenic deaths per year. There are probably 500,000 or more making MDs the biggest killers. I have worked in the medical field for thirty years and I can tell you that $$$ come above health almost always.

The religious pray to God. The medical industry prays to $$$.

The article stated, "It is difficult to determine precisely how many children in the United States lose their lives every year as the result of the phenomenon that has come to be known as religion-based medical neglect."

Do you realize how many people die every year at the hands of medical doctors? Or how many people (including children) have been damaged by medical treatment and have to live with life long disability? Are we to believe that those kids would have been better off going to the MD? The statistics would say not (considering that studies show medical care to be the third leading cause of death in the US).

There was a 2nd grade girl in our school who went to the hospital to be treated for a simple virus. She died. Should the doctors and the parents be tried for manslaughter? They did all that they thought was best. She was only in the second grade; she was a precious little girl. It was a tragedy that happens without a good explanation. Should someone accuse them because they didnt try a prayerful healing method? No.

I have experience multiple healings from prayer alone. I find my children are sick less often than most. They too have had multiple healings from prayer alone. I feel that prayer is a more effective way to handle all problems including sickness. But I would not condem those parents for taking their percious second grade daughter to the doctor with tragic results. I cried with them, I felt their pain. And I would not want them to condem me for praying for my children. I would ask them to pray with me and support me as I did for them.

There is more than one way ( the medical way) to find healing and health just as there is not just one way to pray. Who knows, maybe through prayer we will find the way to end all disease. But the medical way has not found it yet. I am grateful for the freedom to find my own way.

I guess what confuses me the most is why it has to be one or the other, prayer healing or medical healing. Wouldn't it be much more prudent to seek healing from as many sources as possible? Why couldn't these parents have taken their children into the emergency room *and* prayed for their recovery? I don't see how using one would negate the ability to use the other.

I, personally, use a combination of western medicine, Chinese traditional medicine (to include accupuncture, accupressure and Reiki) and meditation to deal with the ailments life has thrown my way. Using multiple forms of healing has been, in my experience, much better than using only one.

I think that holding down a child and cutting off part of his penis AKA circumcision counts as abuse of children. This is a requirement of several religions and mainstream Americanism and is a fine examble of abusing children in the name of a god. In the case of Americanism, that would be the god of money as OBs and other doctors make a good living cutting children's genitals.

thanks for the information!

Our bodies being the key phrase here. Not our children's bodies. I have no problem with someone like that eliminating themselves from the genepool. It does the rest of humanity a great service. However, denying medical care to one's child IS active. It IS abuse. And in these cases it IS murder...

Our bodies being the key phrase here. Not our children's bodies. I have no problem with someone like that eliminating themselves from the genepool. It does the rest of humanity a great service. However, denying medical care to one's child IS active. It IS abuse. And in these cases it IS murder.