"Government Pressing Six Child Death Cases Against Christian
Scientists"
Authorities in four states are prosecuting *Christian Science*
parents on manslaughter, murder, or child abuse charges for
refusing medical care to their dying children.
The cases -- six of them in all, including three in California
-- represent the largest assault in history against Christian
Science reliance on prayer instead of medical treatment to cure
disease, according to *Rita Swan* of the Sioux City, Iowa-based
organization, *Children's Health-care Is a Legal Duty (CHILD).*
Christian Science began in 1875 with the publication of *Mary
Baker Eddy's* Science and Health. About the same time the
organization of "Christian Scientists," an association of Mrs.
Eddy's students, formed to learn the finer points of her mind cure
techniques. In 1879 the organization incorporated under its
official name -- The Church of Christ, Scientist.
Although 44 states have enacted laws to prevent prosecution of
Christian Scientists on the basis of religious beliefs, a growing
number of prosecutors are going after parents on the basis of
_child abuse_ statutes. Child abuse is not directly alluded to in
most of the statutes protecting Christian Scientists.
The Massachusetts law protecting Christian Scientists passed by
the state legislature in 1971 is similar to that of other states.
Prosecutors argue that although it shields parents from charges of
child neglect, it does not deal with child abuse. It reads: "A
child shall not be deemed to be neglected or lack proper physical
care for the sole reason that he is being provided remedial
treatment by spiritual means alone."
One of the two most publicized cases in recent months is taking
place in Massachusetts. It involves *Nathan Talbot,* the top legal
and public relations official working out of the church's worldwide
headquarters in Boston. Talbot allegedly advised Christian Science
parents *David and Ginger Twitchell* to not give their dying boy
medical treatment. This case was recently highlighted on the CBS
program "60 Minutes."...
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