In the Manual of The Mother Church, Mary Baker Eddy provides that the government of branch churches shall be democratic. In Article XXIII, Section 10, she writes, "In Christian Science each branch church shall be distinctly democratic in its government, and no individual, and no other church shall interfere with its affairs."

The distinctness of the democratic government of a branch church lies in the opportunity of its individual members conscientiously to demonstrate divine wisdom and control. The basic purpose of Christianity is to reveal individual man, the Christ-man, who is God's likeness and who is completely controlled by God's will. The virtue of democracy lies in the fact that each individual is thereby given the freedom to demonstrate his God-governed spiritual self, thus to reflect the intelligence of God, the one Mind and source of man.

When all men prove man's unity, or oneness, with God, good, and thus express the harmony of the one infinite Principle, divine Love, universal brotherhood will be found to be an ever-present and changeless fact.

The branch church member who feels that he must advise other members how they should vote when election of officers or other measures are under consideration is interfering with distinctly democratic procedure, as is also the member who feels that he cannot come to a decision himself and must let someone else make it for him. Even unvoiced willful determination to gain specific human ends in branch church affairs amounts to a violation of genuine democratic government, for thought is often felt, and silent suggestion can become personal influence when it is not detected as such and rejected. To come to decisions individually through selfless prayerful demonstration of God's will is the scientific contribution that all members of branch churches can make toward keeping their churches distinctly democratic, as well as distinctly harmonious.

In a section of "No and Yes" entitled "Science of Mind-healing," Mrs. Eddy gives counsel to church members which is designed to prevent factions from developing among Christian Scientists. She writes (p. 9), "It is true that the mistakes, prejudices, and errors of one class of thinkers must not be introduced or established among another class who are clearer and more conscientious in their convictions; but this one thing can be done, and should be: let your opponents alone, and use no influence to prevent their legitimate action from their own standpoint of experience, knowing, as you should, that God will well regenerate and separate wisely and finally; whereas you may err in effort, and lose your fruition." These points are particularly applicable when there are sharp differences of opinion.

While it is the duty of every member of a branch church to support its democratic spirit, no majority vote should be construed as forcing a minority to depart from its genuinely moral convictions on a given subject. One of the fundamentals of democratic government is the protection of the convictions of the minority, and no minority should feel the weight of condemnation because of its convictions. Otherwise, the essential spirit of democracy is lost.

The individual's realization that God's will is the omnipotent controlling law of Truth's structure helps to prevent the adoption of unwise measures of church policy. Furthermore, persistence in acknowledging this truth is certain to bring about corrections if apparently unwise policies have been adopted. Under no circumstance is a difference of opinion of church members reason for disruptive criticism and the personal divisions that sometimes arise from it.

The warmth of Christly good will should not be lost, nor should the patient observance of Christian brotherhood be lacking. The freeing of mankind from the distresses and burdens of false world beliefs rests upon the church's demonstration of the brotherhood of Love's ideas, and responsibility in contributing to the great issues involved should be assumed by every member.

Obedience to constituted authority is essential to the harmony of any democratically organized body. Opinions can be put forward in branch church discussions without display of human will, but efforts to set aside authority established by duly adopted by-laws generally gives rise to friction that interrupts the normal progress of Christian Science in a community and cuts down the healing influence of the church. Means of changing church by-laws are always embodied in those by-laws, and obviously the proper method is to change the by-laws rather than to rebel against the authority or the procedure they establish. Mrs. Eddy says in "The first Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (p. 203), "Church laws which are obeyed without mutiny are God's laws."

Paul had a clear understanding of problems likely to arise as men joined themselves together in church fellowship, and his counsel stands for all time. In I Corinthians he likens this fellowship to the human body, in which all members are necessary to each other, saying (12:24, 25), "God hath tempered the body together ... that there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another."

Divine Love binds all ideas in one universal membership in Christ, and the purpose of branch church government is to promote the demonstration of Christ, God's immaculate idea. Giving each member freedom to prove his eternal membership in Christ is having that "same care one for another" which brings to light the universal family of spiritual ideas, the divinely governed sons and daughters of Love.

Helen Wood Bauman