Annotations Related to Vaccination

In this book of personal essays, people representing a variety of faiths respond to questions about the Covid pandemic and its impact on their spiritual practice. Susan Searle writes from a Christian Scientist viewpoint, and explains that she accepted vaccination in order to continue her public ministry. 

Shirley Paulson responds to questions about the Covid pandemic and its impact on the practice of her faith, Christian Science. She discusses how the pandemic experience highlighted the need for greater maturity in spiritual healing practices, such as more concern for public issues and greater spiritual clarity, strength, and authority.

Eddy’s first published reference to the subject of vaccination was in an 1880 sermon. In 1900, Eddy was consulted by some Christian Science parents, including her son, who wanted to keep their children from school due to their opposition to vaccination laws. But Eddy recommended compliance with the law and affirmed that one could also submit to the providence of God. 

This chapter, written by the Church, provides information that will help health care providers understand the spiritual needs of Christian Scientists in a practical, clinical setting. Besides a background history of Mary Baker Eddy, the formation of the Church, and its foundational teachings, the chapter explains reliance on prayer for healing as an individual choice, and the adherence to law when it comes to infectious diseases.

Schoepflin’s review acknowledges the relevance of Rogers’s study of America’s religious exemption from vaccination in light of the then-current 2015 measles outbreak in the United States—even though Rogers primarily uses case studies of Christian Science practice from 30–35 years prior to his study to argue his case that children are harmed by exemption laws. 

This 1988 report analyzes two cases of measles outbreaks within Christian Science communities exercising their religious rights to be exempt from immunization. Due to the nature of their respective facilities, the two cases represent contrasting strategies. Control measures at a college included immunization and quarantine, while a summer camp consisted of dispersal of exposed persons followed by quarantine within their homes.

Nearly fifty years ago, Stokes, the spokesperson for The First Church of Christ, Scientist, answered questions about Christian Science that are still heard today. Contemporary Christian Scientists would recognize a shift in language and social engagement since the 1970s, such as “What is your attitude toward Black people, women, vaccination?” But the basic theological underpinning of the Church’s self-understanding remains valid.

The value of this 1960 article lies in its historical evidence of the evolution of the debate over the legal and moral issues related to the medical care of children whose parents practiced spiritual healing based on the teachings of Christian Science. The basic argument was based on the gradual judicial, legislative, and social acceptance of the spread of Christian Science.

Clarke shares his experience as a journalist for the New York Herald sent in 1901 to interview Mary Baker Eddy on a wide range of subjects: authority of leadership, necessity of bylaws, church format, the nature of Christ and the soul, state laws governing contagious diseases, vaccinations, and the embrace of the sciences that “seek the finer essences” versus the “false science–healing by drugs.”