Article January 17, 1931 Issue

From the report given in the Post of the address by a...

William G. Westle, as Committee on Publication for Warwickshire, England,

Birmingham Post

From the report given in the Post of the address by a bishop at Allerton on Sunday last, it would appear that he entertains the mistaken view that Christian Science is a "fantastic type of belief," alluding to it with others as "these crudities." He has so mixed the chaff with the wheat that, in fairness to Christian Science, a correction is necessary.

All students of Christian Science are striving to delineate the Christ-ideal in their lives. They recognize as indispensable essentials to this end a clear perception and uninterrupted vision of the spiritual facts of man's being, and they therefore rely on the record of man, created in God's image and likeness, as given in the first chapter of Genesis. In making his allusion the bishop was palpably unaware of the six simple basic tenets of Christian Science, the first two of which read: "(1) As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life. (2) We acknowledge and adore one supreme and infinite God. We acknowledge His Son, one Christ; the Holy Ghost or divine Comforter; and man in God's image and likeness" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 497; Church Manual, p. 15).

The Christian Scientist therefore comes within the definition of a "Christian" given in Webster's Dictionary, in part, as "one who believes, or professes or is assumed to believe, in Jesus Christ, and the truth as taught by Him," since he does believe in Christ Jesus; and it is not easy to understand how on can justify characterizing a movement so based as a "fantastic type of belief," for such teachings command the respect of theologians of differing faith.

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