Article December 16, 1905 Issue

Christian Science and Its Assailants

The Indianapolis Sentinel

Mrs. Eddy and her advanced theory have had no easy course to travel. Both have been assailed again and again, but, for all of the attacks, the cult has extended its influence and increased its power. With the virtue of Mrs. Eddy's theories, with the truth of them, and the certainty of their application, this article does not deal. It would merely call attention to the assault most recently made upon Christian Science tenets. This comes from Dr. Gunsaulus, the eminent president of the Armour Institute. Dr. Gunsaulus finds cause to condemn Christian Science because, he says, Christian Science minimizes pain and sorrow.

"And pain and sorrow," continues the learned doctor, "are the incontestable witnesses to life and strength. There is no progress without them." These words seem very deep, and the thought behind the most subtle, but, after all, closer analysis reveals a hollowness that robs the utterance of strength. First of all, Dr. Gunsaulus apparently admits that Christian Science as a healing influence actually accomplishes its purpose. He admits that it "minimizes" pain and sorrow; but, says he, we need pain and we need sorrow, and we must have them if we would not stand still or go backward.

Here indeed is a new theory. It is newer by far than Mrs. Eddy's. It is the newest theory that we have ever heard expounded. But why stop here? Why not continue to the end? Why not carry on the argument, complete the links in the chain? Why not say that we could walk better if we broke our legs? Why not say we could speak better if we split our tongues? Why not insist that virtue, if a product of sin and unhappiness, comes only as a consequence of grief?

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