Article October 5, 1918 Issue

The Star has maintained an attitude of such fairness and...

S.T. Downs

Indianapolis (Ind.) Star

The Star has maintained an attitude of such fairness and toleranc toward religious denominations that many of its readers experienced a sense of surprise as well as regret over the editorial, "Medical Science and Cure-Alls," in a recent issue. The editorial, which started out to defend the doctors' objection to the proposal that osteopaths be admitted to the Army on an equal basis with the so-called regular practitioners of medicine, implied that Christian Scientists are seeking admission to the army medical corps. This is, of course, not true. It is a well-known fact that the Christian Science church in its rightful place as a religious denomination, has sought only the appointment of chaplains, and a number of Christian Science chaplains are now serving in the Army and Navy.

The editorial stated, "The power of mind over matter was understood and practiced by medical men before Mrs. Eddy dreamed of it." The theory of mental suggestion and the theory of the power of the human will have been taught for a long time, and they are known now under the terms animal magnetism, mesmerism, hypnotism, and psychology. The critics of Christian Science have failed to see, and often such failure has been a deliberate refusal to see, that such psychology is not Christian Science.

Mrs. Eddy's writings set forth the power, permanence, and reality of divine metaphysics and give definite rules for the proof that God, or divine Mind—a term unknown to scholastic psychology—heals the diseases of mankind. Such healing is accomplished through prayer. In other words, in answering the momentous question, "What is truth?" Christian Science teaches that there is, logically, only one truth to be known, and that is the truth about God and His creation. In setting forth the truth Christian Science shows that the Christian's rule for healing is found in the instruction that the Master gave when he said, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

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