Editorial December 1, 1951 Issue

THE GOVERNMENT OF BRANCH CHURCHES

Helen Wood Bauman

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.

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