Editorial January 4, 1930 Issue

"The essence of religion"

Duncan Sinclair

The Christian Scientist is very tolerant of the religious beliefs of other people. Everyone, he allows, is entitled to freedom of conscience; and while he will not permit his own cherished religious faith to be tampered with, he does not interfere with the religious convictions of others. That does not mean, however, that the Christian Scientist is not firmly convinced that his religion—Christian Science—is "the essence of religion." He is certain that it is, and he is sure that it is only a question of time when it will be universally regarded as such. His attitude is that of the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mrs. Eddy, as expressed on page 178 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany": "The Science of Christianity is not generally understood, but it hastens hourly to this end. This Science is the essence of religion, distilled in the laboratory of infinite Love and prepared for all peoples."

Christian Science has for its basis the understanding of God as infinite Love; hence its universal appeal. Who can fail to be interested when the truth is told him that God, the infinite One, is Love? It causes him to think of his human experiences, with their irreconcilable contradictions, forcing him to inquire as to their meaning. It makes him seek for an explanation of the apparent existence of both good and evil and of the seeming power of evil in the lives of mortals. And his inquiries are answered and his seeking is rewarded, clearly answered and freely rewarded, by Christian Science.

When Christian Science declares that God is infinite Love, it affirms that naught but Love and Love's manifestation are real. Or, to put it differently, the truth that Love is infinite necessitates the conclusion that evil is unreal. What does this imply? That only that which is good, pure, loving, compassionate, spiritual, is real; that whatsoever is sinful, impure, unloving, lacking in compassion, unspiritual, is unreal. Was ever teaching so radical as this, striking as it does at the very roots of all the pernicious material beliefs of mortals? What is its effect? To relieve mankind of the age-long fallacies which have bound it to sin, disease, poverty—evil in all its forms.

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