Editorial September 5, 1931 Issue

A Case for Humanitarians

Clifford P. Smith

"A Christian Scientist is a humanitarian; he is benevolent, forgiving, long-suffering, and seeks to overcome evil with good." These words by Mary Baker Eddy are part of a By-Law of the Christian Science Mother Church (Manual, Art. VIII, Sect. 22). These quoted words, therefore, are more than the acknowledgment or announcement of a fact; they are more than commendation or praise; they constitute a rule for conduct, a law of action; they prescribe a duty, an obligation.

A humanitarian is defined in part in the Practical Standard Dictionary as "one who is broadly philanthropic and humane; a philanthropist." Evidently, the two clauses of the foregoing provision from the Church Manual are correlative; the second clause applies and explains the first. Consistently with the entire provision, a humanitarian can be defined as one who has regard for the interests of humanity or all mankind, and who actively and wisely seeks to overcome evil with good.

For almost two years, nearly all mankind has been going through a depression which threatens to become a dejection. In different forms, and having different degrees of. severity, such depressions have occurred and recurred, at almost fixed intervals, since the beginning of carefully compiled history. Each one has had its own combination of causes and contributory difficulties, but probably the most persistent factor in all general deficiencies of an economic nature has been the general belief that such occurrences will recur. Back of this belief is the even more deeply placed belief that everything good or wholesome is limited and cannot be expected to continue without break or interruption.

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