For the Sake of Science

Seth Johnson is back in the local paper. I’ve responded to his nonsense in the past, but he keeps on going. My recent letter supporting atheism was published within the past 30 days, so I am not able to send in another letter to make sure people don’t buy into this Christian Science malarkey, so FTSOS will have to do. Here is the letter.

I’d like to respond to the article “‘Spiritual health care’ advocates seeking inclusion in legislation” which appeared on Nov. 27.

The Christian Science church has asked Congress to include a provision so that insurance companies do not discriminate against people who choose spiritual care to meet their health-care needs. The federal government will not be “paying for prayer.” The intent is to allow people who pay in to private insurance to get the care they find effective.

Many people have found spiritual care, such as Christian Science, to be reliable and affordable in meeting their health-care needs for many generations. Individuals pay for this form of treatment as a professional service. Payments go directly to Christian Science practitioners, or full-time healers, who are self-employed and receive no compensation from the church. It’s their only livelihood.

The legislative provision under consideration does not change child protection laws.

That being said, is spiritual care safe for children? Parents are required by law to provide proper health care to children, and the Christian Science church fully supports laws that require parents to act responsibly and provide good care. If families use spiritual care with their children, it must be done responsibly and with good results.

Also, this provision is not trying to put spiritual care on the same level as medical care. It is only about what private insurance companies decide to cover in their policies.

Everyone should receive good health care. In the current debate about mandating health insurance, methods of proven effective treatment should be made available to the public.

Seth Johnson

Christian Science Committee on Publication for Maine

Falmouth

As usual, a pusher of bad medicine isn’t being entirely forthcoming. The inclusion of Christian Science in the health care bill would require insurance companies to consider covering “religious and spiritual healthcare”. Such a requirement (even if it’s only a requirement of consideration) is obviously unconstitutional. Perhaps more important, however, is the fact that these anti-medical faith-heads don’t have a shred of evidence which suggests that anything they do actually works.

I mean, goodness, is that so much for people to ask? Just offer us some actual experiments, some studies, some tests. Give us something which can actually be discussed. Right now all we’re seeing is a bunch of malarkey which appeals to nothing but faith and placebo effects. It’s ludicrous that anyone could support this rubbish.

On a separate note, the Kennebec Journal (the paper in which the letter appeared) is showing itself to have a favoritism toward this anti-science nonsense. First it goes out of its way to offer extra space and apologetics to some naturopathic quack at the end of a letter, then it refuses to publish letters critical of that sort of junk, going so far as to lie about why they won’t publish quality criticisms. This pattern of dishonesty is getting out of control.

Filed under: News | Tagged: Christian Science, Health care, Kennebec Journal, Seth Johnson | 1 Comment »

Seth Johnson is back in the local paper. I’ve responded to his nonsense in the past, but he keeps on going. My recent letter supporting atheism was published within the past 30 days, so I am not able to send in another letter to make sure people don’t buy into this Christian Science malarkey, so FTSOS will have to do. Here is the letter.

I’d like to respond to the article “‘Spiritual health care’ advocates seeking inclusion in legislation” which appeared on Nov. 27.

The Christian Science church has asked Congress to include a provision so that insurance companies do not discriminate against people who choose spiritual care to meet their health-care needs. The federal government will not be “paying for prayer.” The intent is to allow people who pay in to private insurance to get the care they find effective.

Many people have found spiritual care, such as Christian Science, to be reliable and affordable in meeting their health-care needs for many generations. Individuals pay for this form of treatment as a professional service. Payments go directly to Christian Science practitioners, or full-time healers, who are self-employed and receive no compensation from the church. It’s their only livelihood.

The legislative provision under consideration does not change child protection laws.

That being said, is spiritual care safe for children? Parents are required by law to provide proper health care to children, and the Christian Science church fully supports laws that require parents to act responsibly and provide good care. If families use spiritual care with their children, it must be done responsibly and with good results.

Also, this provision is not trying to put spiritual care on the same level as medical care. It is only about what private insurance companies decide to cover in their policies.

Everyone should receive good health care. In the current debate about mandating health insurance, methods of proven effective treatment should be made available to the public.

Seth Johnson

Christian Science Committee on Publication for Maine

Falmouth

As usual, a pusher of bad medicine isn’t being entirely forthcoming. The inclusion of Christian Science in the health care bill would require insurance companies to consider covering “religious and spiritual healthcare”. Such a requirement (even if it’s only a requirement of consideration) is obviously unconstitutional. Perhaps more important, however, is the fact that these anti-medical faith-heads don’t have a shred of evidence which suggests that anything they do actually works.

I mean, goodness, is that so much for people to ask? Just offer us some actual experiments, some studies, some tests. Give us something which can actually be discussed. Right now all we’re seeing is a bunch of malarkey which appeals to nothing but faith and placebo effects. It’s ludicrous that anyone could support this rubbish.

On a separate note, the Kennebec Journal (the paper in which the letter appeared) is showing itself to have a favoritism toward this anti-science nonsense. First it goes out of its way to offer extra space and apologetics to some naturopathic quack at the end of a letter, then it refuses to publish letters critical of that sort of junk, going so far as to lie about why they won’t publish quality criticisms. This pattern of dishonesty is getting out of control.

Filed under: News | Tagged: Christian Science, Health care, Kennebec Journal, Seth Johnson | 1 Comment »