Article September 29, 1917 Issue

To the bystander witnessing the periodical "flaying" of...

Samuel Greenwood in —Victoria, B. C., Canada

The Colonist

To the bystander witnessing the periodical "flaying" of Christian Science on the part of its clerical and other opponents,—for the most part the clerical,—the enduring vitality of the victim must seem at least remarkable. To this same bystander it must seem that neither denunciation nor ridicule of another's religion is the best way to establish the superiority of one's own. Its critics should see that the only feasible way to dispose of Christian Science, in the event of its not being true, is to replace it with something more satisfying and helpful.

The attempt of the speaker to define Christian Science or its method would not appeal to a Christian Scientist, and a Christian Scientist, let it be remembered, is more competent to say what Christian Science is, or how it is applied, than are its opponents. The assertions that Christian Science is "anti-Christian," that it "denies the Saviour," and so on, only serve to announce the speaker's difference of opinion, though that could be done more generously than by a misstatement of facts.

This critic acknowledges that Christian Science heals the sick, which he admits is a very Christian thing to do, even to the extent of advocating its adoption by his own church. If he is conversant with the facts of the Christian Science movement, he should also be willing to acknowledge that it has been conspicuously successful in liberating men from sinful and vicious habits, and is helping its adherents everywhere to live better and purer lives. If these things are "anti-Christian," the meaning of that word as generally applied stands in sore need of improvement.

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