Editorial November 9, 1940 Issue

"The idols of civilization"

GEORGE SHAW COOK

THE Hebrew people were prone to turn away from the worship of God to various forms of idol worship, and the Hebrew prophets were constantly admonishing them to turn from their idolatry to serve the one living and true God. The idolatrous practices of the Israelites consisted partly in the worship of idols of wood and of stone which they themselves had fashioned, as well as the worship of false gods.

In the New Testament we find little evidence of such grossly material idolatry, but evidently idolatry of a somewhat different nature prevailed in that time, as we find the Apostle John, in one of his epistles, saying, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." And today a kind of idolatry prevails to a certain extent among those who pride themselves on having attained an advanced state of Christian civilization. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes on page 173 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," "The idols of civilization are far more fatal to health and longevity than are the idols of barbarism." And on the following page she asks this pertinent question: "Is civilization only a higher form of idolatry, that man should bow down to a flesh-brush, to flannels, to baths, diet, exercise, and air?"

Some of the forms of idolatry which prevail among civilized people are not commonly recognized as such, but are regarded as virtues. Among these will be found the idolizing of family, and particularly of human parents. One of the Ten Commandments reads, "Honour thy father and thy mother," but the honor, respect, and love rightly accorded to human parents do not justify one in idolizing them. Jesus said, "Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven." And Christian Science teaches that our heavenly Father-Mother God alone should be worshiped.

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