Editorial July 21, 1906 Issue

Our Campaign of Education

Archibald McLellan

During the six years that the Publication Committee has been at work, the results accruing from its labors have amply justified the wisdom of our Leader in establishing it as an agency for the correction of misstatements regarding Christian Science and its followers, but this Committee still has a great deal of work before it, and it needs the earnest and loyal support of every member of our Church in order that it may accomplish the good it should do. The "campaign of education" which has been entered upon by the Publication Committee and the Board of Lectureship is an important feature of our denominational activity, and this campaign must be continued until all prejudice against our Cause, and all misrepresentation of it and of our Leader, have been overcome. The importance of this work is, we think, not always understood by the branch churches, otherwise there would be no cause for complaint by the State Publication Committees that their effectiveness is more or less hampered by lack of funds. It should be borne in mind that this work cannot be carried on without expense, and this expense, when divided pro rate among the membership of the branch churches throughout a whole State, is but a small item for each one, and yet it is as necessary to the prosperity of the local churches as is any other outlay.

It is important in the work of this Committee, in addition to the circulation of our own periodicals, that newspapers and magazines containing articles in which Christian Science is correctly set forth should be widely circulated. This is a matter of considerable expense, yet we have known of instances in which the local Committee has been compelled to bear the burden from his own private means because the necessary funds had not been provided by the branch churches. That such conditions exist can be accounted for only upon the supposition that the good already derived from the work of the Publication Committee is not as fully recognized as it should be. We doubt if there is a Christian Scientist who does not personally know of one or more cases in which some misunderstanding of Christian Science, or some prejudice against it, has been removed by these truthful statements, and this of itself proves the value of the Publication Committee's work.

No matter how much each individual Christian Scientist may do—and he should do a great deal—in circulating our literature, his individual effort cannot take the place of the organized and orderly work of the Publication Committee. We repeat that this Committee should be liberally provided with funds to carry on its work, and that the branch churches should be as careful to provide these funds as they are to meet any other necessary expense.

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