# Christian Science and medical injury

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-science-and-medical-injury/394828>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 6, 2007, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-science-and-medical-injury/394828 "2007-03-06T18:12:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-science-and-medical-injury/394828/1 "2007-03-06T18:12:16Z")

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IIRC, Christian Science forbids modern medicine, as illness and injury are just illusions; they are just the appearance of our less-than-full faithful unity with God.

What if a Christian Scientist broke a leg or cut themselves?

Are they forbidden to get the bone set or have stitches?

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**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-science-and-medical-injury/394828/2 "2007-03-06T19:12:14Z")

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I don’t know the answer to your question, but I can give one anecdote. My wife knew a woman in grad school who had only one arm. She had lost the other from an infection that her Christian Science family would not allow to be treated. I asked my wife who had cut the arm–presumably gangrenous by that time–off. My wife said she hadn’t thought to ask (or maybe she was embarrassd to ask).

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**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-science-and-medical-injury/394828/3 "2007-03-06T19:45:03Z")

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We’ve had other threads on this topic. I’ll dig up what I can find.

To recap short answers:  
Christian Science does not “forbid” medical treatment, although spiritual treatment is encouraged. The general approach that is taken is that you treat what you can through prayer; things outside your ability to deal with spiritually are handled by physicians. Essentially, if fear or pain are preventing you from focusing on prayer and understanding of yourself as a perfect child of God, take care of those elements and then return to prayer.

To illustrate: my cousin broke his arm. Not a bad break, but a significant fracture. My aunt and uncle took him to the hospital and his arm was set in a cast. He was to wear the cast for 6 - 8 weeks. They then visited a Christian Science practitioner (a third party who can help guide prayer and thought for those faced with a challenge). After two weeks, my cousin’s arm was completely healed and the cast removed.

There are hard-line Christian Scientists and stupid Christian Scientists (with a great deal of overlap between these two groups, in my opinion) just as there are hard-liners and idiots in every other religion.

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**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christian-science-and-medical-injury/394828/4 "2007-03-06T19:50:52Z")

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Here’s one of the threads I was thinking of. Check out **Owlett** ’s responses in particular.

> **[Christian Science, or, you're not really sneezing](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=315737)**
>
> Dearies, After a rather startling weekend among Christian Scientists, I was half shocked & then appauled to learn about their stance on disease, not because I’m high and mighty, but because there were kids involved. Let me explain. Two...