The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down - Plot & Excerpts
Lundman, in which an eleven-year-old diabetic named Ian Lundman slipped into a fatal coma after his mother, his stepfather, and two Christian Science practitioners prayed for him instead of administering insulin. The boy’s father, who was not a Christian Scientist, had won a damages award of $1.5 million, the first ever obtained against Christian Scientists after a child’s death. By refusing to overturn this award, the Supreme Court signaled its lack of sympathy for faith healing. Although popular opinion favored the Supreme Court and condemned the Christian Science Church, an interesting dissent was expressed in a New York Times editorial by Stephen L. Carter, a Yale law professor. Carter pointed out that according to a recent Gallup poll, four out of five Americans believe that prayer can cure disease, and nearly half say they have been healed by prayer themselves. He concluded sardonically, “By refusing to intervene in McKown v. Lundman, the Supreme Court has reinforced a societal message that has grown depressingly common: It is perfectly O.K.
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