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Some critics of Christian Science and other alternative treatments worry that accommodating such healing methods could open the door to a wide range of questionable therapies. Democratic Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa is all too familiar with such slippery-slope objections. Long a proponent of alternative therapies, he chaired a hearing in late February on integrative care and health reform that featured practitioners of holistic medicine and other alternative approaches; his support has been vigorously opposed by scientists who believe that investment in alternative medicine is a waste of funds. In March, the Washington Post reported on an effort to shut down the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health, a pet project of Harkin's (annual spending on alternative medicine at NIH makes up about $300 million of the $29 billion overall budget).
So far, President Barack Obama has expressed willingness to at least consider a role for alternative therapies in universal health care. But the standard he has set will be tough for many of these therapies — including Christian Science — to meet. At a town-hall meeting in Missouri last month, an acupuncturist asked whether Obama believed alternative medicine should be part of health care. "My attitude is that we should do what works," Obama responded. "I think it is pretty well documented through scientific studies that acupuncture, for example, can be very helpful in relieving certain things like migraines and other ailments, or at least [be] as effective as more intrusive interventions. I will let the science guide me." Of course, Christian Scientists would prefer he let faith do some of the guiding too.
See a TIME photo-essay on spiritual healing around the world.