Article December 26, 1914 Issue

In a recent issue an evangelist is permitted to express his...

Frank Bell—Scranton, Pa.

The Truth

In a recent issue an evangelist is permitted to express his personal opinion that Christian Science is a humbug. He is mistaken. Humbug is defined in the dictionary as, in its milder phases, a trick or hoax, and in its more serious aspects as a fraud or an imposition. Now, in the very nature of the case, Christian Science could be none of these, for the reason that it is the one system of religious teaching which makes no call whatever upon the credulity of its adherents, but leaves them entirely free to base their conclusions upon that which is demonstrated in their individual experience.

The Christian Scientist is not required to accept anything in blind faith, to subscribe to a creed or endorse a dogma. His convictions are expressed, not in sets of words, but in the results attained through the application of his religion. In brief, Christian Science asks no one to believe that which is not capable of present proof. Inquire of the Christian Scientist why he is one, and he is not likely to reply that it is because his parents were Christian Scientists, or that one really should belong to some church, because he fears what may happen to him in the next world, etc. The answer more probably will be that Christian Science has shown him how to overcome sin, to heal disease, to incorporate the golden rule in his conduct, to think clean thoughts, to be more charitable and kind, to be more efficient and less afraid; being and doing these things not from a sense of duty, but through growth in love for all that is genuinely good. These are scarcely the fruits of humbug.

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