Editorial November 18, 1950 Issue

THE RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE

Helen Wood Bauman

Contrasting the simple, conscientious purpose of the Pilgrim Fathers in her own land with the defeated ambition and lost glory of ancient dynasties, Mary Baker Eddy says in "Pulpit and Press" (p. 10), "On shores of solitude, at Plymouth Rock, they planted a nation's heart,—the rights of conscience, imperishable glory." And she goes on to impress Christian Scientists with the fact that they have planted their standard on the rock of Christ, God's spiritual idea, and that what they have planted is immortal.

"The rights of conscience"—"a nation's heart"! How dearly were these rights bought by the Pilgrims, and what vigilance is needed in any country or period for their preservation! Thought was expanding in those momentous years, answering the mandate of Truth and loosing itself from stubborn ecclesiasticism; and it is expanding today, leavened by Christian Science, which reveals the theology that heals sin and sickness. Students of this Science find the same necessity of vigilance to preserve their individual rights of conscience, the freedom to express good, and their hearts' approval of every thought within. The Christ-revealed knowledge that nothing is real but spiritual perfection sets a new standard of worship and quickens conscience to diviner issues than mankind has known before.

The moral person knows that no power exists that can keep him from thinking what is right to think, even though personal domination, arbitrary laws, or unmoral governments may prevent him from worshiping as he longs to worship or from preaching the truth without restriction. But when the rights of conscience are established through the demonstration of Christian Science, no one can be made to do what is wrong or prevented from doing what is right. Freedom to obey divine Principle, God, is always demonstrable. God is omnipotent, and the illusions of material existence are forced to disappear before the comprehension of His universal control.

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