Article November 26, 1932 Issue

Your correspondent, "J.L.," in criticizing the lecture on...

William Birtles, former Committee on Publication for Warwickshire, England,—Leamington Spa

Courier

Your correspondent, "J.L.," in criticizing the lecture on "Christian Science: The Religion of Progress," given in Leamington, assumes to be an authority on the definition of the word "religion" sufficiently to classify Christian Science as "the new substitute for religion," and to say that "it [Christian Science] denies, or disbelieves, all the fundamental teaching of Christianity."

This may be an honest contribution from the critic's point of view of religion and Christianity, but to presume also that "it is a curious type of mentality that is attracted by the new religion" tends to publicly belittle an important fact, namely, that this "curious type of mentality" is made up of intellectual citizens, statesmen, doctors, lawyers, former member of other religious organizations, and ministers of religion, who, through the study of the works of Mary Baker Eddy in conjunction with the Bible, have progressed out of their former beliefs about God and man into a more practical, workable knowledge of the Science underlying the statements of our Master—one as an example, "Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you."

Our critic says Mrs. Eddy claims "that the Bible is her sole teacher, guide, and textbook," but he adds that she "perverts its meaning at every step." On page 576 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, is the following passage correlative to the passage from Luke: "This kingdom of God 'is within you,'—is with reach of man's consciousness here, and the spiritual idea reveals it. In divine Science, man possesses this recognition of harmony consciously in proportion to his understanding of God."

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