“There is No fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear” (I John 4:18). This timeless assurance that divine Love halts and eliminates fear can be applied to every aspect of our lives. In fact, it’s worth considering whether this biblical promise has practical relevance to the present public health concerns about the spread of contagious disease.
As society seeks to address these concerns in part through compulsory vaccinations for children, including sorting out whether exceptions should be permitted, the public discussion has tended to force individuals into factions: “pro-vaccination” versus “anti-vaccination,” with strong feelings on both sides based largely on fear.
Although no one is exempt from having to deal with this fear, students of Christian Science strive to live lives of trust in God, above the fear of both disease and vaccine. And the elimination of fear through an understanding of God as omnipotent Love is part of the unique contribution Christian Scientists can make to the conversation. Mary Baker Eddy writes, “At a time of contagious disease, Christian Scientists endeavor to rise in consciousness to the true sense of the omnipotence of Life, Truth, and Love, and this great fact in Christian Science realized will stop a contagion” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 116).
