A recent film, Contagion, directed by Steven Soderbergh, explores the spread of a lethal virus that becomes a worldwide pandemic, killing thousands of people as it gains momentum—and defeating the best efforts of disease control experts to identify it. According to the reviews, the story is alarmingly believable, dwelling on the science involved in combating such a virus. The promo line in the film’s ad campaign reads: “Nothing spreads like fear.”
Over 100 years ago Mary Baker Eddy wrote a radically different article called “Contagion.” It says, “If only the people would believe that good is more contagious than evil, since God is omnipresence, how much more certain would be the doctor’s success, and the clergyman’s conversion of sinners” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 229). In other words, it is good that is contagious, and accepting this truth and living a life based on this premise bring freedom from the belief of sickness, vulnerability, and dangerous germs.
When our daughter was in reception (the first year of school in England), chicken pox seemed to invade the classroom, and every day fewer and fewer children were at school. The teacher and classroom assistant—who knew that we were Christian Scientists—would tease me about my “confidence” in our daughter’s immunity from contagious disease. Then the day came. The teacher’s assistant called to say that our daughter was now showing all the symptoms of chicken pox, and that I needed to come and collect her.
