Article July 22, 1950 Issue

THE PURPOSE OF RELIGION

VISCOUNT ASTOR

On pages 115 and 116 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy sets out what she calls the "Scientific Translation of Mortal Mind" from the first degree (physical), through a second degree (moral or transitional), to the final or third degree (spiritual). This translation is not unlike the states and stages of the dream of life in matter or the geological and animal development of the material world as imagined by scientists and historians.

Today mankind, generally speaking, seems to be lacking in proper moral standards, or the qualities which Mrs. Eddy associates with the second degree. Some appear not to have advanced much beyond the first, unmoral, animal stage of paganism designated "Depravity." Others have neglected to use or have been deprived of their heritage, which Mrs. Eddy describes in Science and Health where she says(p. 106), "God has endowed man with inalienable rights, among which are self-government, reason, and conscience."

Can religion remedy this? What has been the purpose of religion through the ages? Is religion today deliberately obstructed by dialectical materialism? Civilization has been associated with altering forms of government ranging from tribal leadership through theocracy, feudalism, monarchy, to representative political democracy. The last is the result of the liberating of human thought through progressive spiritual perception. It includes the expansion of individual character by placing responsibility upon free and enlightened people. The By-Laws of the Manual of The Mother Church by Mrs. Eddy set out a similar objective for Christian Scientists, each branch church being autonomous and self-supporting, whilst it is laid down that Readers and teachers are not to become leaders or personal rulers. Political, military, or religious dictatorship cannot replace the growth of individuality through religious and civil freedom; in other words, through unfettered conscience and reason.

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