From the Lexington’s notebook:
Christian Scientists, who don’t believe in conventional medicine, are nonetheless keen to grab some of the cash the government will soon be splurging on health reform.
Church leaders want health insurers to reimburse “spiritual health” practitioners who pray for the sick, reports the Washington Post.
A proposal to that effect was stripped out of the House health bill, but the Church is lobbying to have it re-inserted into the Senate version.
Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, taught that sickness is a delusion. Rather than consulting a doctor when you are ill, you should pray, she advised. Her modern-day followers sometimes take this literally.
Their children occasionally die of preventable or treatable diseases. The Church would like taxpayers to subsidise this sort of nonsense. And Senators John Kerry and Orrin Hatch apparently agree.
The great thing about this sort of logic is that it can be applied to anything. If I “educate” my children by praying that they will one day get into Harvard, may I please have a subsidy from the Department of Education? And I understand that there’s a lot of money in the defence budget. If I pray for victory in Afghanistan, perhaps Congress will give me some of it.
Bevan Sabo
Ariel Goldring
Guest Blogger
