Article May 2, 1914 Issue

The one approximately correct statement in the platform...

Frank Bell—Franklin, Pa.

Venango Herald

The one approximately correct statement in the platform attack on Christian Science, as quoted in your issue of March 6, is that "the average Christian Scientist has never dreamed that these awful things were true of his belief." The average Christian Scientist has better control of his dreams. As a matter of fact, no Christian Scientist, or any other unbiased investigator of the subject, has discovered that Christian Science resembles in any way the foolishness our friend puts forth as descriptive thereof. The literature of Christian Science is obscure to those who prefer that it should so appear. Its meaning has been found to be perfectly clear to countless numbers of sensible men and women who have turned to it with an honest desire for help in time of trouble. Any one capable of exhausting the vocabulary of offensive adjectives in criticism of that which is accomplishing so much genuine good as Christian Science, is of course incapable of grasping the meaning of its teachings.

For the benefit of those who might have taken seriously some of the statements made in the above-mentioned address, it should be said that Christian Science does not deny that humanity is afflicted with sin and disease. In fact, its adherents are actively and consistently engaged in an effort to help mankind out of evil of all kinds, and, incidentally, are enjoying marked success in such effort. There is not the slightest excuse for attempting to attach to Christian Science any teaching that would ease the conscience of the wrongdoer. On the contrary, the fact is emphasized throughout Mrs. Eddy's writings that the penalty not only for evil doing, but for evil thinking, is swift and inevitable. Christian Science does not even favor the unrighteous with the common clerical assurance that they may escape punishment until the "next world." It teaches nothing with regard to evil that is not borne out in the experience of mankind.

"Animal magnetism" is not disturbing any one who understands Christian Science. Mrs. Eddy selects this as "the specific term for error" (Science and Health, p. 103). Such use of the term is helpful in emphasizing the important point in Christian Science that evil is primarily mental, must be thought before it is acted, and is a product of the human mind and not of God. Mrs. Eddy gives her students much valuable instruction with regard to protecting themselves from injurious mental influences and tendencies, but the belief in and the practice of hypnotism are well understood to be inconsistent with Christian Science; and individuals who have so misconstrued the teachings in this respect as to attempt to incorporate something of that sort in their work, have been dismissed from the Christian Science church with Mrs. Eddy's sanction and approval.

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