Week 2: Link & Reflection

The link below is a biography of Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, mentioned in the text we read this week on mental versus physical healing and medicine-free healing techniques. It's long, but interesting - especially the dispute over her plagiarism of Quimby (also in our text!)'s original ideas. This also ties in to our class discussion about research in that a great deal of information we have about Eddy is from letters she wrote and received, and can be found in museums and the like.

http://marybakereddy.wwwhubs.com/

Christian Science, not to be confused with Scientology, is explained by our dear old friend Wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Science. In essence, Christian Science believes that the reality of being, as well as everything God creates is spiritual and not material. Spiritual reality is the only reality - all else is illusion. Christian Science and traditional medicine are not used together under the belief that they contradict one another. Interesting!

This article made me reflect upon the topic of free will that Bill explained in class today. While reading about the Christian Science, I came upon the legal/medical issue of children being raised under the guidelines of this belief system (some choose to call it a religion; others a medical science). Studies from the CDC and other groups have reported discrepancies of death rates due to cancer and other illnesses between followers of the Christian Science versus traditional medicine. In addition, the US Constitution has been utilized by those arguing for their right to practice Christian Science, even in cases of exemption from legal prosecution due to apparent child abuse or neglect. They cite the constitutional guarantee of protection of religious practice from intrusion of government in their cases, with varying degrees of success across different states. It is interesting to think about what John Locke might have to say about this, and to conceive of different explanations of free will. Sure, children growing up under the Christian Science still have options and are able to make decisions. However, can we assign levels of free will? It is an all or nothing, or does the fact that we might be able to make predictions about their outcomes based on the limited choices available not at all affect their having free will?