I'm , President of The Mother Church. We're going to discuss quite candidly today some of the public issues facing our Church—issues which really should be of concern to men and women everywhere. Over the past several years several Christian Scientists have been tried in court for their reliance on Christian Science healing. Public prosecutors have argued that Christian Science treatment is the same as doing nothing. It's apparent that faith in drugs as the only reliable healing agent has so pervaded society today that the power of Spirit is generally believed to be of little or no consequence. This brings to mind a serious question, a question our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, has posed, a question which really should be of concern to everyone who truly loves God. She says, "The question at issue with mankind is: Shall we have a spiritual Christianity and a spiritual healing, or a materialistic religion and a materia medica?" Miscellaneous Writings, p. 246
Society is going to have to face this issue squarely, whether it wants to or not. And we hope that our discussion today can help focus our attention on the contribution we can make, all of us, individually and collectively, to a proper resolution of this issue. And now to begin our discussion I'm going to talk with , Manager of Committees on Publication here at The Mother Church.
Nate, what is it that underlies the opposition to spiritual healing?
