Article September 8, 1928 Issue

Truth and Tolerance

ALICE MC CRAY MERRIELL

A great deal is said to-day about tolerance. The word is used more often, perhaps, than "charity," although the two have come under some circumstances to have much the same meaning in modern thought.

In the endeavor to gain the spiritual nature of tolerance, to learn to feel that broad charity which the New Testament teaches, we are sometimes tempted to believe that all intelligible truth is but human doctrine, that one person's belief is as likely to be true as another's; and we soon become lost in the maze of perplexities offered by this point of view. Trying to see some truth in every human doctrine that is advanced, we finally arrive at a mental state which is afraid to acknowledge any absolute truth at all. And this is often the result of an honest attempt to be tolerant.

Christian Science offers a very simple way to avoid this confusion. "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good" might be called a watchword of Christian Scientists. Every thought, every decision, every action, must be considered in the light of ever present Truth; and with even the most elementary understanding of God, we learn to distinguish readily between that which is like the Father, good, and that which is not. We ask ourselves, Is it Godlike—true? and the answer determines our acceptance or nonacceptance of the thought.

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