DO Christian SCIENTIST ALLOW THEIR MEMBERS TO USE NONPROFIT SOCIAL SERVICES?

Question

I am doing a case study about child abuse and wonder if the family can benefit from referrals to family counseling or other non profit agency's if they will feel at liberty to use them or will this go against their belief system? the goal here is to respect their rights to practice the faith our choosing.

Answer 1

Yes, they can take advantage of non-profit services.  You may be thinking of Amish/Mennonites who opt out of Social Security, etc.

Please be sure of your facts before you declare all Christian Scientists abusive.  I think that you will find the rate of abuse is on a par with the rest of the nation.  Now, you could make a good argument for neglect being more prevalent in CS homes but you are getting into some hairsplitting definitions there.  

You will have to be very careful to establish an objective definition of abuse that doesn't rest on your personal perspective on child rearing or on the assumption that "they" or "most people" or "good parents" do or don't do x-y-or-z.  

You are also going to, inevitably, have to discuss the line between the rights of the individual parents, the rights of children and the states interest in the matter.  You're tackling a difficult subject with a lot of grey area here and many sinkholes to fall in.  Good Luck.

Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance.