Article November 16, 1918 Issue

News versus Intelligence

BEATRICE CLAYTON

In these times when human passions, unloosed, obscure to a great extent the motives which have hitherto served to guide human thought, Christian Scientists may well pause to weigh the value, not merely to themselves but to the world, of our Leader's last gift, The Christian Science Monitor. What can a Christianly scientific newspaper do for the world? Rather, what may it not achieve in the establishment of the one standard of right thinking, which means universal brotherhood, the stilling of strife.

The word intelligence is often used as a synonym for news. We say, "I received intelligence" of so-and-so. "Intelligence arrived that such was the case." All news certainly should be intelligence. Testing this by the rule of metaphysics, we find on page 466 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mrs. Eddy's statement, "Truth is intelligent; error is non-intelligent." Only truthful news, therefore, expresses intelligence. Truth, being intelligent, has the power to communicate its own ideas. Error, being nonintelligent, cannot communicate anything. It has nothing to communicate, being itself nothingness. The more we think of this, the more we shall be convinced that we lose nothing by refusing to absorb the miscellaneous and sensational items contained in the average newspaper. The Christian Science Monitor reflects intelligence in expressing Truth, and can convey intelligence; newspapers which act as error's mouthpiece do not in that respect convey intelligence.

It has been asserted that the Monitor is not really a newspaper because it does not to any extent print trivial local news; and the objection has been made that it prints too much news of a certain character, such as critical reference to war atrocities and the activities of vivisectionists. "Should not the Monitor print only the good men do?" is demanded. Of course, the activities of evil are only part of the lie of mortal mind, but the Monitor being a scientific newspaper can no more ignore error than could the master Christian, and again, our Leader.

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