Article December 5, 1914 Issue

In an article in a recent issue a clergyman proceeds to...

William D. Kilpatrick

Detroit (Mich.) News-Tribune

In an article in a recent issue a clergyman proceeds to take a fling at Christian Science and classes it as "heretical." Now, just a word in connection with "empty church pews" and the attitude of many of the clergy toward Christian Science. For years past it has been the pastime of many ministers periodically to bring out the subject of Christian Science, and then in terms of scorn and ridicule proceed to give a demonstration of "brotherly love" and "good will toward men" by belittling and maligning the honest religious convictions of a large percentage of their fellow men. That, of course, is their privilege; but one of the best answers to the question of "empty church pews" can probably be found in the overcrowded churches of the Christian Scientists throughout the world. I would recommend our reverend critic to a little deeper thought and wider scope of observation along this line, if he would discover where the fundamental trouble in his church lies. Criticizing or ridiculing the honest religious convictions of another is surely very far from exemplifying the teachings of the Master.

The position taken by Christian Science relative to the subject of sin is most distinctly in accord with the teachings of Jesus. Whether it is considered "heretical" by our critic, matters very little in view of the fact that there seems to be no fast and fixed rule defining the orthodox position on any one subject. "The orthodoxy of today is the heterodoxy of yesterday," and what our critic may please to call orthodox today may have been termed heterodox yesterday, and what he calls heterodox today may be termed orthodox tomorrow. So until some unchanging standard of faith can be established, the accusation that any varying opinion is "heresy" amounts to nothing.

Jesus taught that sin and evil can be overcome with good, and that before the omnipotence of Truth, or good, evil or sin has no power. He taught also that as we sow, so shall we reap, and that if sin is believed and indulged in, the awful effects of this belief can but be manifest through the person so believing and indulging. And thus does Christian Science teach. Jesus did not give any power or authority to sin, and when his followers were enabled to understand the nothingness of sin as an entity, their fear of and experience in sin forever disappeared, and they were no more subject to sin. Jesus taught the overcoming of sin through the understanding of its nothingness. Had he attributed power or might to sin in any way, he would have dishonored an omnipotent God and would have placed evil on an equal footing with God. No one ever did or ever will master sin or evil, either in himself or others, by thinking that sin has any power and that God has created two powers, one good and one evil, and that man, God's child, has been left to shift for himself, helpless on a sea of mixed good and evil, with an even chance for either to win.

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