Editorial May 29, 1937 Issue

War Is Not Inevitable

George Shaw Cook

Since it is understood by Christian Scientists that, in belief, mortals exist in an atmosphere of mortal thinking, rather than in a material environment, the necessity for protecting their thinking against prevalent world beliefs is obvious to them. At the present time, Christian Scientists find it advisable to resist mentally the aggressive suggestion that war is imminent. They need to know that they cannot be mesmerized by the fear of war which seems to have found root in the thought of many persons.

War is not inevitable, and it cannot be precipitated if the people of the various countries hold to the rule of Christian conduct set forth by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Ill-advised rulers, through selfish motives or through evil influences which they do not fully understand, may bring the nations to the brink of war, but they cannot plunge them into it if the people themselves withhold their consent and approval. A considerable group of nations has for many years kept out of war, and if this is possible for them, it is equally possible for the other nations. It is a notable fact that in spite of constantly increasing armaments, something has, in the present instance, kept the nations out of a general conflict. Is it too much to attribute this fact to divine power and to the restraining influence of spiritual enlightenment?

Mary Baker Eddy wrote in 1908 (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 286), "For many years I have prayed daily that there be no more war, no more barbarous slaughtering of our fellow-beings; prayed that all the peoples on earth and the islands of the sea have one God, one Mind; love God supremely, and love their neighbor as themselves." Although it is a fact that since those words were written the greatest war in history was waged, this does not prove that her prayers were vain. Rather does it indicate the need of similar prayers, and increasing confidence in the assertion made by Mrs. Eddy at the same time (ibid., p. 286), "National disagreements can be, and should be, arbitrated wisely, fairly; and fully settled."

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