Article August 5, 1922 Issue

It is evident that a contributor, in a recent issue of your...

Charles E. Heitman, Committee on Publication for the State of New York,

Evening Telegram

It is evident that a contributor, in a recent issue of your paper, like most critics of Christian Science, has presumed to speak without a knowledge of the facts. As an example, his criticism of the manner in which Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, employs the terms "mortal mind" and "immortal Mind" in all of her writings indicates a complete misunderstanding of the meaning of these terms, as used in Christian Science; and at once disqualifies him as a worthy and intelligent critic. Obviously, to criticize a subject intelligently, one must first understand its terminology. Recognizing, as she did, that both evil and good are commonly classified as mind, Mrs. Eddy, in order to make clear her use of these terms, designated all phases of evil, including sin, disease, and death, as the mortal or carnal mind, and likewise all attributes of good as belonging to immortal Mind, or God. In this connection she states on page 114 of her book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," "In Science, Mind is one, including noumenon and phenomena, God and His thoughts;" and further on she says, "As Mind is immortal, the phrase mortal mind implies something untrue and therefore unreal; and as the phrase is used in teaching Christian Science, it is meant to designate that which has no real existence." In drawing this sharp distinction between the carnal mind and the Mind which is Spirit, Mrs. Eddy is but following the example set by the apostle Paul in his epistle to the Romans, wherein he says, "To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be."

Another misstatement is that according to Christian Science man is Spirit. On this point Christian Science is clear and emphatic: it teaches that God, not man, is Spirit, and that man made in the image and likeness of God, is, therefore, spiritual. It is clear that since there is but one God there can be but one Spirit; and since God is Spirit, the things created by Him, including man, must be spiritual and not material.

Furthermore, in taking exception to the teachings of Christian Science regarding things physical, he totally ignores the fact that the most advanced students among the physical scientists are to-day telling us that all there is to matter is physical force. Indeed, it was stated not long ago at a conference of physical scientists that they were now explaining matter by explaining it away. Inasmuch as our critic is himself a medical practitioner, the following quotations take on added interest, and definitely show to what extent well-informed medical men disagree with him in his attitude towards the mental cause and cure of disease. In the Medical Review of Reviews for May, 1916, appeared the following: "Our Christian Science friends are scientifically correct when they say fear causes consumption, and worry produces cancer." Another interesting statement regarding the influence of mind upon body as the cause of disease in general is made by Dr. William S. Sadler in his book, "Physiology of Faith and Fear": "Mind never fails to impress itself upon matter. For every mental process there never fails to follow some physical response. Every thought of mind, every process of consciousness, is unfailingly translated into some form of material movement."

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