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Deadly Blessings: Faith Healing on Trial
A young couple watched their infant son die of meningitis even as their Christian Science "practitioner" promised that prayer was all the child needed. The parents were prosecuted, leading to a six-year legal battle.
A West Coast psychotherapist's practice involved a bewildering array of drugs, New Age metaphysics, and mind control. One of her patients died after a bizarre "hot tub" treatment. The psychotherapist was taken to court.
A Filipino "psychic surgeon" claimed that he could remove tumors without breaking the skin. The husband of one patient complained to his local prosecutor. "Brother Joe" was put on trial.
Deadly Blessings is a penetrating examination of three controversial court cases. With exceptional insight, Richard J. Brenneman delves into the minds of those who believe that faith or magic alone can cure physical and emotional ills.
This book is a combination courtroom thriller, human drama, and first-rate piece of investigative reporting. Brenneman adds a unique, compassionate perspective because he's been there. He is a former Christian Scientist, he lived in a commune, and (at one time) he believed in psychic surgery.
A West Coast psychotherapist's practice involved a bewildering array of drugs, New Age metaphysics, and mind control. One of her patients died after a bizarre "hot tub" treatment. The psychotherapist was taken to court.
A Filipino "psychic surgeon" claimed that he could remove tumors without breaking the skin. The husband of one patient complained to his local prosecutor. "Brother Joe" was put on trial.
Deadly Blessings is a penetrating examination of three controversial court cases. With exceptional insight, Richard J. Brenneman delves into the minds of those who believe that faith or magic alone can cure physical and emotional ills.
This book is a combination courtroom thriller, human drama, and first-rate piece of investigative reporting. Brenneman adds a unique, compassionate perspective because he's been there. He is a former Christian Scientist, he lived in a commune, and (at one time) he believed in psychic surgery.
390 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 7, 2025
A FORMER CHRISTIAN SCIENTIST LOOKS AT SEVERAL CRIMINAL CASES
Journalist Richard Brenneman wrote in the Introduction to this 1990 book, “Today’s New Age movement is deeply involved with healing. If the forces governing the universe are spiritual, and if we are spiritual beings, then what is disease? After all, the spiritual is infinitely more powerful, more real, than the material. Medical science has long since been forced to acknowledge that mental states sometimes play a significant role in preventing and recovering from illness. The ‘placebo effect’ is real and powerful: Significant numbers of patients suffering from a significant number of real diseases report significant degrees of relief when a doctor gives them a sugar pill. Clearly, SOMETHING is at work.
“For several decades, physicians shrugged off the placebo effect, focusing their energies on the conditions they would treat with material remedies, with drugs, surgery, radiation, diet, and exercise. But recent studies have begun to define a complex relationship between thought and health. Scientists have discovered natural opiates manufactured by the brain. Other studies seem to show that simply thinking good thoughts helps the body prevent and fight off a wide range of disorders. Anger, for example, can provoke heart attacks. The relationship between thought and health is still ill-defined. The fact remains, however, that thinking is a human behavior which can and does influence health. The evidence also seems to show that it’s not so much WHAT you believe as THAT you believe. The fact of belief itself confers real benefits, whatever its object.
"[This book] examines three forms of ‘alternative healing,’ one from … Christian Science, and two from … 21st century New Age (psychic surgery and psychedelic psychotherapy). It does so through the lens of the law. It examines the relationship of society to the individual, both social and legal. It charts the boundaries of the legal and illegal, of civil and criminal rights and wrongs, of state-imposed limitations on spiritual action.” (Pg. 18-19)
First, he examines Christian Science: “Though Mrs. [Mary Baker] Eddy later denied [Phineas Parkhurst] Quimby any role in the genesis of her religion, she studied with him, and it was he who coined the very term ‘Christian Science.’ Quimby was a self-professed healer, and taught others. What he could not do was build a movement.” (Pg. 27-28)
He points out, “There are many areas of doubt in the official version of Mrs. Eddy’s life… For several periods during her years as leader of her church, Mrs. Eddy… relied on opiates to kill the pain of kidney stones. The Christian Science Board of Directors was forced to acknowledge this when, after her death, memoirs of household members surfaced in the press. To what extent she used the drug is uncertain.” (Pg. 28)
He notes, “There are no infant baptisms, no wedding ceremonies, no funerals in Christian Science branch churches. To sanctify these by allowing them into the church would be to sanctify the very lie of man’s birth, progress, and death in matter.” (Pg. 43-44)
He states, “Mrs. Eddy created some interesting outs. In ‘Science and Health,’ she writes, ‘If from an injury or from any cause, a Christian Scientist were seized with pain so violent that he could not treat himself mentally---and the Scientists had failed to relieve him---the sufferer could call a surgeon, who would give him a hypodermic injection, then, when the belief of pain was lulled, he could handle his own case mentally.’ These words were written after it became known that Mrs. Eddy resorted to pain-killing shots while passing kidney stones.” (Pg. 62)
He reports, “California’s first Christian Science child death case under the 1872 law was prosecuted before Los Angeles jury in 1902. A diphtheria epidemic had claimed the life of a child who had received no medical care. The arguments raised by the defense were the same the church was to raise in California cases more than eight decades later. Prosecutors were attacking the faith because they didn’t understand it, and they weren’t prosecuting physicians, who were losing one child in four to the same disease. The jury acquitted the parents.” (Pg. 96)
Of three California court cases, he recounts, “[A defense attorney] successful fought an effort by the prosecutor to keep the parents’ religious beliefs from the jury, maintaining they had no relevance to the single issue of whether or not the parents had allowed the child to die without medical care. He argued that failure of Christian Science treatment to heal one disease victim was not grounds to condemn the religion or its followers. The jury returned a verdict at the end of the trial’s seventh week. The parents were guilty of child endangerment, but not guilty of involuntary manslaughter.” (Pg. 100-101)
Brenneman explains in the concluding chapter, “Nearly two decades ago, before I was a Christian Scientist, I was a member of a communal household under a charismatic leader who dispensed mind-altering drugs to his followers in carefully controlled circumstances. I earned my keep as scribe and editor for the leader, a Hindu from India… Some of the group members went to India. I stayed behind. Those who went sickened, living in the guru’s attic, tended by astrologers and folk healers…. There was a time in my life when I believed in psychic surgery. Well-known psychologists told me it was real, showed me films. I would have tried it---fortunately, the need never arose.” (Pg. 329)
He asks in conclusion, “Will exposure of these three cases in a forum like this accomplish any good? The answer, I would hope, is yes. From a standpoint of public policy, legislators and regulators need to know the issues involved in unconventional healing. State and federal authorities must grapple with the issues presented here. Christian Science lobbyists are working hard to overturn the ‘child neglect’ statutes and win exemption from manslaughter prosecutions. Psychic-surgery promoters are working the country, selling the operations and the lucrative Philippine tours. Federal authorities are reconsidering whether or not to reopen psychedelic drug research programs, and must design guidelines to ensure maximum public safety. These are issues that won’t go away, but must be decided thoughtfully in the context of a democratic society.” (Pg. 335)
This book will be of keen interest to those studying Christian Science in general, and other forms of faith healing as well.
Journalist Richard Brenneman wrote in the Introduction to this 1990 book, “Today’s New Age movement is deeply involved with healing. If the forces governing the universe are spiritual, and if we are spiritual beings, then what is disease? After all, the spiritual is infinitely more powerful, more real, than the material. Medical science has long since been forced to acknowledge that mental states sometimes play a significant role in preventing and recovering from illness. The ‘placebo effect’ is real and powerful: Significant numbers of patients suffering from a significant number of real diseases report significant degrees of relief when a doctor gives them a sugar pill. Clearly, SOMETHING is at work.
“For several decades, physicians shrugged off the placebo effect, focusing their energies on the conditions they would treat with material remedies, with drugs, surgery, radiation, diet, and exercise. But recent studies have begun to define a complex relationship between thought and health. Scientists have discovered natural opiates manufactured by the brain. Other studies seem to show that simply thinking good thoughts helps the body prevent and fight off a wide range of disorders. Anger, for example, can provoke heart attacks. The relationship between thought and health is still ill-defined. The fact remains, however, that thinking is a human behavior which can and does influence health. The evidence also seems to show that it’s not so much WHAT you believe as THAT you believe. The fact of belief itself confers real benefits, whatever its object.
"[This book] examines three forms of ‘alternative healing,’ one from … Christian Science, and two from … 21st century New Age (psychic surgery and psychedelic psychotherapy). It does so through the lens of the law. It examines the relationship of society to the individual, both social and legal. It charts the boundaries of the legal and illegal, of civil and criminal rights and wrongs, of state-imposed limitations on spiritual action.” (Pg. 18-19)
First, he examines Christian Science: “Though Mrs. [Mary Baker] Eddy later denied [Phineas Parkhurst] Quimby any role in the genesis of her religion, she studied with him, and it was he who coined the very term ‘Christian Science.’ Quimby was a self-professed healer, and taught others. What he could not do was build a movement.” (Pg. 27-28)
He points out, “There are many areas of doubt in the official version of Mrs. Eddy’s life… For several periods during her years as leader of her church, Mrs. Eddy… relied on opiates to kill the pain of kidney stones. The Christian Science Board of Directors was forced to acknowledge this when, after her death, memoirs of household members surfaced in the press. To what extent she used the drug is uncertain.” (Pg. 28)
He notes, “There are no infant baptisms, no wedding ceremonies, no funerals in Christian Science branch churches. To sanctify these by allowing them into the church would be to sanctify the very lie of man’s birth, progress, and death in matter.” (Pg. 43-44)
He states, “Mrs. Eddy created some interesting outs. In ‘Science and Health,’ she writes, ‘If from an injury or from any cause, a Christian Scientist were seized with pain so violent that he could not treat himself mentally---and the Scientists had failed to relieve him---the sufferer could call a surgeon, who would give him a hypodermic injection, then, when the belief of pain was lulled, he could handle his own case mentally.’ These words were written after it became known that Mrs. Eddy resorted to pain-killing shots while passing kidney stones.” (Pg. 62)
He reports, “California’s first Christian Science child death case under the 1872 law was prosecuted before Los Angeles jury in 1902. A diphtheria epidemic had claimed the life of a child who had received no medical care. The arguments raised by the defense were the same the church was to raise in California cases more than eight decades later. Prosecutors were attacking the faith because they didn’t understand it, and they weren’t prosecuting physicians, who were losing one child in four to the same disease. The jury acquitted the parents.” (Pg. 96)
Of three California court cases, he recounts, “[A defense attorney] successful fought an effort by the prosecutor to keep the parents’ religious beliefs from the jury, maintaining they had no relevance to the single issue of whether or not the parents had allowed the child to die without medical care. He argued that failure of Christian Science treatment to heal one disease victim was not grounds to condemn the religion or its followers. The jury returned a verdict at the end of the trial’s seventh week. The parents were guilty of child endangerment, but not guilty of involuntary manslaughter.” (Pg. 100-101)
Brenneman explains in the concluding chapter, “Nearly two decades ago, before I was a Christian Scientist, I was a member of a communal household under a charismatic leader who dispensed mind-altering drugs to his followers in carefully controlled circumstances. I earned my keep as scribe and editor for the leader, a Hindu from India… Some of the group members went to India. I stayed behind. Those who went sickened, living in the guru’s attic, tended by astrologers and folk healers…. There was a time in my life when I believed in psychic surgery. Well-known psychologists told me it was real, showed me films. I would have tried it---fortunately, the need never arose.” (Pg. 329)
He asks in conclusion, “Will exposure of these three cases in a forum like this accomplish any good? The answer, I would hope, is yes. From a standpoint of public policy, legislators and regulators need to know the issues involved in unconventional healing. State and federal authorities must grapple with the issues presented here. Christian Science lobbyists are working hard to overturn the ‘child neglect’ statutes and win exemption from manslaughter prosecutions. Psychic-surgery promoters are working the country, selling the operations and the lucrative Philippine tours. Federal authorities are reconsidering whether or not to reopen psychedelic drug research programs, and must design guidelines to ensure maximum public safety. These are issues that won’t go away, but must be decided thoughtfully in the context of a democratic society.” (Pg. 335)
This book will be of keen interest to those studying Christian Science in general, and other forms of faith healing as well.
April 17, 2022
This book is filled with sensationalism and distortion. It is not a faithful or accurate description/account of at least one of its stories. It is intellectually sloppy, dishonest and lazy, lacking in perspective, depth and impartiality while relying on uninformed/biased reporting. In short, save your money....
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June 26, 2021Hard read about GramB
January 19, 2016
A good book. Had places where it was hard to follow. Got lost once or twice with who was who because of the jumping back and forth.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews