Faith healing

====Christian Science====
[[Christian Science]] claims that healing is possible through prayer based on an understanding of God and the underlying spiritual perfection of God's creation.<ref name="Barrett2009"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Eddy |first1=Mary Baker |title=Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures |date=1910 |orig-year=1875 |pages=1–17 |isbn=978-0879524371 |url=https://www.christianscience.com/the-christian-science-pastor/science-and-health/chapter-i-prayer}}</ref> The material world as humanly perceived is believed to not be the spiritual reality. Christian Scientists believe that healing through prayer is possible insofar as it succeeds in bringing the spiritual reality of health into human experience.<ref name="SkepDic">{{cite book |first= Robert Todd |last=Carroll |author-link=Robert Todd Carroll |title=The Skeptic's Dictionary |edition=online |chapter=Faith Healing |chapter-url=http://www.skepdic.com/faithhealing.html |year=2014|title-link=The Skeptic's Dictionary}}</ref> Prayer does not change the spiritual creation but gives a clearer view of it, and the result appears in the human scene as healing: the human picture adjusts to coincide more nearly with the divine reality.<ref name="Bergman2001">{{cite news |last=Bergman |first=Gerald |date=October 2001 |title=The Christian Science holocaust |url=http://www.theness.com/index.php/the-christian-science-holocaust/ |magazine=The New England Journal of Skepticism |volume=4 |issue=4 |publisher=[[New England Skeptical Society]]}}</ref> Therefore, Christian Scientists do not consider themselves to be faith healers since faith or belief in Christian Science is not required on the part of the patient, and because they consider healings reliable and provable rather than random.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Eddy |first1=Mary Baker |title=Prose Works other than Science and Health |date=1925 |page=33 |publisher=1st Church of Christ Scientist |url=https://archive.org/details/proseworkscatalo00mary/page/n59/mode/2up}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Peel |first1=Robert |title=Health and medicine in the Christian Science tradition |date=1988 |publisher=Crossroad |location=NY |page=2 |isbn=978-0824508951 |url=https://archive.org/details/healthmedicinein00peel/page/2/mode/2up}}</ref>

Although there is no hierarchy in Christian Science, practitioners devote full time to prayer for others on a professional basis, and advertise in an online directory published by the church.<ref>{{cite web |title=Directory of practitioners |url=https://directory.christianscience.com |publisher=The First Church of Christ, Scientist}}</ref><ref name="MatlinsCS"/> Christian Scientists sometimes tell their stories of healing at weekly testimony meetings at local Christian Science churches, or publish them in the church's magazines including ''[[The Christian Science Journal]]'' printed monthly since 1883, the ''[[Christian Science Sentinel]]'' printed weekly since 1898, and ''[[The Herald of Christian Science]]'' a foreign language magazine beginning with a German edition in 1903 and later expanding to Spanish, French, and Portuguese editions. [[Christian Science Reading Room]]s often have archives of such healing accounts.<ref>{{cite web |title=JSH-Online |url=https://jsh.christianscience.com |publisher=The First Church of Christ, Scientist}}</ref><ref name="MatlinsCS">{{cite book |last1=Matlins |first1=Stuart |author-link=Stuart M. Matlins |title=How to Be a Perfect Stranger: The Essential Religious Etiquette Handbook |date=2003 |publisher=Skylight Paths Publishing |pages=70–76 |isbn=978-1594731402 |url=https://archive.org/details/howtobeperfectst00stua_0/page/70/mode/2up}}</ref>