Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1903-02-25
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE.
An Attempt to Prevent its Practice in
 This Territory.

An Attempt to Prevent its Practice in This Territory.
 A bill has been introduced in the
 legislature of this territory entitled
 'An Act to Regulate the Practice of
 Medicine" but which contains a
 clause which is intended to prevent
 the practice of Christian Science.
 An attempt was recently made in
 New Hampshire to pass bill to pre- vent the practice of Christian Science.
 but it met with a prompt and com
 plete defeat.
 Speaking of this attempt the Con-
 cord Daily Monitor said:
 "An attempt to legislate against
 Christian Science in New Hampshire
 has met an ignominious defeat. This
 great victory was won by Mrs. Eddy's friends who are not Scientists. No
 legal counsel was engaged to manage the case. Not one of Mrs. Eddy's rep
 resentatives visited the hall of legisla-
 tion. Her friends outside of the
 church gladly enlisted in her behalf. g z The Concord Patriot also said:
 Some days ago Representative
 Abbott of Manchester, introduced a
 bill in the New Hampshire Legisla- ture, the purpose of which was to pro-
 hibit the healing of physical ailments
 by Christian Scientists. The bill i'm posed penalty of $50 for the first offense; S10O for the second offense, and if the party further persevered in violating the law, he was to be sent to jail
 ''By the action of the House the bill was referred to the judiciary commit tee, and yesterday, by vote of Il to 1, the committee refused to report the measure.
 ''It is needless to say that the be- lievers in Christian Science are very much pleased with the result. They are proud to know that the members of the Legislature declined to offer this insult and do this great injus- tice to the people of this state, who have an abiding faith in the tenets 1 and doctrines of Christian Science.
 ''The Patriot feels free to say, that ! in its views, it represents the intelli- | gence and integrity of Concord, when 1 it comments the legislature for refus- | ing to even recognize so unjust and | discriminating a bill.
 ''The founder of Christian Science, Rev. Mary Baker c. Eddy, makes her home in Concord; she has done and | is doing much for Concord, in every | thing looking to the upbuilding of | been willing to contribute in every | way that good citizenship can demand 1 or expect. ''The people of Concord who believe with her, are not proselyting; they are not urging others to accept the 1 things that they believe and practice; their mission clearly is to do what | good they can for their fellow men; they are all good citizens, peace low ing and law abiding.
 ''lf there is a healer among them, he is not advertising nor proclaiming his powers of combating sickness; he is not urging others to accept him as their physician; he goes when he is called, and only when he is called, and surely American men and Ameri- can women are endowed with suffi- cient appreciation and intelligence to be permitted to select such physical headers as their judgment or desires may advise or suggest.
 Hike bills with similar intent, have been introduced in other legisla tive bodies, in other states at other times, but with the great majority of them the purpose was more or less concealed. This cannot be said of the measure proposed by Mir. Abbott; in this, there was neither concealment nor deception. The bill was directed against Christian Science. and the practice of Christian Science healing, and the judiciary committee, in the minds of an overwhelming majority of the good people of New Hampshire, did what was fair and right, when it refused to permit even the cOnsidera- tion of bill so manifestly unjust. (
 "This paper is not advocating the ( cause nor proclaiming the virtues of , Christian Science, any more than of any other religion. It bespeaks for ( all, at the hands of our lawmakers, liberal and just treatment; the Con- t; stitutiOn of the United States, and l the Constitution of every state of the union, recognizes the right of the in dividual to worship God after the die [ tates of his heart and conscience. and { any effort on the part of religious ! bigots to interfere with their clearly ( defined right is palpably wrong; wrong { in theory, wrong in law, and wrong { in fact. (
 of the believers in the Roman [ Catholic church were being discrimin- | ated aginst, or proposition looking to discrimination were proposed in ' the legislature. we would say, Don't 1 do it. If such a bill were directed z against COngregatiOnalists, Metho- dists, Baptists. Unitarians, Adven- lists, Wesleyans, or EpiscOpalians we { would say, Don't do it. and when ( the members of the legislature should ; refuse to recognize such arbitrary measures. we with thousands would say as we now say. Thank you. (