Article July 13, 1912 Issue

My attention has been called to the report of an address...

Samuel Greenwood

Penticton (B. C.) Herald

My attention has been called to the report of an address by the Rev. Principal McKay which appeared in your weekly issue of March 23, in which he is said to have severely criticized Christian Science, claiming that it is "nothing less than a recrudescence of the great central thought of Buddhism." Just what Christian Science has to do with a lecture on "The Development of British Columbia" is not made clear, and we are left to wonder at a man in Principal McKay's position going out of his way to attack any religious denomination that is working for the betterment of humanity, even though its view-point may be different from his own. Christian Science has attained its present growth and prosperity solely through the good it has done, and the Master's question might be aptly repeated, "For which of those works do ye stone me?"

The writer of this letter has been investigating the subject of Christian Science for upward of twenty years, but he has found nothing in its teachings that bears the remotest resemblance to Buddhism. In the Christian Science text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, Christian Science is described as "the reappearance of the Christianity which heals the sick and destroys error" (p. 98), and this is the only possible "recrudescence" in the case. The critic himself admitted the great need of this reappearance of primitive Christianity when he said, "Christianity must be raised to the level of today's needs." Today's needs are as great as were those of the first century, and the Christianity of the first century is needed to meet them. That Christian Science is demonstrating the great possibilities of Christ's teachings to overcome both sickness and sin should be cause for thankfulness rather than for criticism. If the religious belief which the critic favors is better than Christian Science, why, it may be asked, is it not doing better works?

The charge as to Buddhism may be effectually disposed of by quoting again from Mrs. Eddy. She writes: "It [Christian Science] absolutely refutes the amalgamation, transmigration, absorption, or annihilation of individuality," and she adds, "Surely the people of the Occident know that esoteric magic and Oriental barbarisms will neither flavor Christianity nor advance health and length of days" (Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 22, 29).

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