Christians naturally have a deep love and concern for their neighbors. The responsibility we feel toward caring for others grows spontaneously out of our love for God. Christ Jesus reiterated this fundamental teaching when he spoke of the two great commandments: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Matt. 22:37-39.
Christian Science certainly maintains the supreme importance of these two demands of Christian worship and practice. At the same time Christian Science teaches that truly to love our neighbor is also to uphold vigorously the rights of individual consciousness—the right to privacy in one's own thought without intrusion or imposition by another; the right to worship God in the quiet sanctuary of one's own expression of prayer; the right to work out one's own salvation. These are sacred privileges that should never be denied another.
These rights of individual consciousness touch on another important issue as well: treatment in Christian Science. Just as one has the right to think one's own thoughts and pray one's own prayer, each person has the right to choose his or her own method of treatment if confronted with illness or injury. The Christian Scientist would not attempt to force another to rely on prayer for healing against the individual's own wishes. The basic rule is that metaphysical treatment isn't given without another's consent. Students of Christian Science know this rule and abide by it, even though they may also be thoroughly convinced in their own thought that prayer is the most effective means of healing.
