Page:Valid Objections to So-called Christian Science (1902).pdf/27



Christian Science has laid claim to being scientific. Is it so? The definition of science is: "Knowledge gained by systematic observation, experiment and reasoning; knowledge, co-ordinated, arranged, and systematized." Does Christian Science, as shown in its theory and practice, come within the scope of this definition? Let us see.

First of all, the foundation of this so-called science is a sweeping assumption, not a deduction from facts gathered and systematized; and it is an assumption that appears on the face of it to be contrary to the common experience and universal beliefs of mankind. An assumption, in the face of what appear to be contrary facts, must, if it shall bear the scientific test, be upheld by proofs which possess more weight than theseeming contradictions. But Christian Science brings forward none of these. Its basic doctrine, that the universe is