Article October 24, 2016 Issue

Healing divisive partisanship

George Moffett

“I am asked, ‘What are your politics?’ I have none, in reality, other than to help support a righteous government; to love God supremely, and my neighbor as myself” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 276). This modest yet profound statement, penned by the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, may be the key to elevating the nation’s conversation about the US elections taking place in two weeks.

The responsibility of good citizenship requires that we learn the issues and qualifications of the candidates and make the choices that conform to our highest sense of right. But our responsibilities as metaphysicians run far deeper. They are, no matter who wins, to know that God, in Mrs. Eddy’s words, will “uphold our nation with the right arm of His righteousness” (Christian Science versus Pantheism, p. 14), and that He will guide the leaders of all three branches of government with the wisdom and vision they need. It is in this way that we most effectively support the righteous governance that was the essence of Mrs. Eddy’s politics.

Beyond the question of which presidential candidate wins, is another, perhaps larger, question: How can either candidate govern effectively in the prevailing environment of acrimony and distrust? One close British observer of the American political scene predicts that “Americans dismayed by the 2016 elections should brace themselves: next year political divisions will probably deepen” (“Gridlock Central,” The Economist, August 6, 2016).

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