Items of Interest
To promote a better understanding of the position of The Christian Science Monitor in respect to the significance of its news and editorial columns, the following excerpt is quoted from an editorial it printed, March 7, 1934, entitled "Reading Your Newspaper":
The editors do not make the pages of the news. The world makes them. Editors may sort and shift items to fit their special patterns, but what men do furnishes their material. . . . Neither prejudice nor attachment properly makes news. Only facts. . . . A paper may cover an entire news page with what some celebrity has done, and yet not believe in it or him. It gives him that space solely because his deed is important in relation to others. On the editorial page it may condemn and dismiss him with a paragraph, or ignore him altogether.
All readers of the Monitor should be aware of what is taking place in public thought with regard to important subjects, and they should also be aware of the significance of differing news items.
Of late there was printed once, and written in a few letters, the complaint that the Monitor is influenced by Communism. Apparently this allegation was made merely because the Monitor has printed news of those who advocate Communism and has briefly stated some of their views. In a recent letter written by the Editorial Board to one of these correspondent it was said:
The Monitor has no sympathy for Communism, does not believe in it, has never advocated it, and recognizes that many of its essential tenets are contrary to the individualism of Christianity. The Monitor has always sought to present an objective and faithful record of developments in Russia, and in doing so it has printed what we believe to have been the most authoritative account of the shortcomings and deficiencies of Communism that has appeared in any newspaper published in the United States. . . . The Monitor does not believe that the best way to promote an understanding of Communism is to exclude from the knowledge of its readers all points of view other than those against Communism, and consequently we have given occasional notice to such opposite views. . . . We believe that the best defense against Communism is to correct those injustices which give a breeding ground to Communism, and that the best defense of democracy is the practice of democracy and its principles.
A church member writes about an applicant for membership in the branch church with which the writer is connected. The applicant was an elderly woman, and the examination before admission to membership seemed to be an ordeal and left her "shaken." The writer comments: "In the zeal to be alert we may be induced to forget to be charitable." She hopes that "a more kindly method of examining applicants for membership in our churches" may be pursued.
The processes leading to admission to membership in a Christian Science church should be some of the happiest of one's experiences. The Admission Committee of The Mother Church has had testimonies from many of the applicants who came before it that the experience of meeting the committee was a happy one. The list of questions which The Mother Church submits to local applicants for membership contains but twelve separate inquiries, all of a simple nature. They are furnished in advance, by mail to each applicant, so that he may have time to contemplate them and to send his written answers in advance of seeing the Admission Committee in person; or, if he prefers, he may bring the answers with him to the conference.
The interview with the applicant is intended to be constructive and helpful to him: to aid him in meeting the problems which come to him as a Christian Scientist, and to help him to grow in understanding. The committee is very careful not to make the applicant feel that he is unworthy.
A young girl who had had Christian Science in her home since babyhood and who had been a pupil in the Sunday school of The Mother Church up to the age of twenty, was obliged to retire from the Sunday school (see By-Law, Article XX, Section 1, of the Church Manual). Of her own accord she looked forward to membership in The Mother Church. After applying she confessed that she rather "dreaded" the conference with the Admission Committee, and was afraid she might not pass the examination. Fortunately this young girl was assured that the interview would not be an arduous one; that it would not be difficult at all, but a pleasant experience; that anyone who had been an earnest student of Christian Science for but a few years, or who had attended Christian Science Sunday School for years, need have no fear lest he come not within the simple qualifications for membership which Mrs. Eddy had inserted in the Church Manual.
If you are contemplating membership, or are perhaps an applicant who hesitates to meet an examining committee, please note Article IV, Sections 1 and 2, of the Manual, and let their clear statements strengthen your hopes and determination to benefit to the fullest from Christian Science, and so help others to a fuller extent.
After the June admission to membership in The Mother Church, one who became a member of this great organization wrote The Christian Science Board of Directors a letter of thanks. She said: "Now you have given me the most glorious opportunity a being could ask. . . . I feel so blest that I am constrained to thank you; and not for this alone, but for your loving service to mankind in perpetuating and maintaining the organization which makes heaven on earth easier for thousands like myself to attain."
