Editorial April 2, 1960 Issue

THE DANGERS OF TOLERANCE

Helen Wood Bauman

There are unquestionable dangers in tolerance. While the word "tolerance" is often used to indicate freedom from bigotry, "tolerate," according to one authority, means "to suffer to be, or to be done, without prohibition or hindrance; to allow or permit by not preventing."

Christian Science, allied with divine Principle, does not permit its adherents to wink at error, hidden or obvious, in order to maintain a false sense of peace; therefore tolerance cannot always be lauded as a virtue. Without bigotry or contempt for others, the Christian Scientist is never tempted "to allow or permit by not preventing" what is wrong in human affairs; but he supports what is nearest right in these affairs. He knows that a tolerant attitude toward any form of evil is not dealing with it honestly or causing it to be destroyed through the power of Christ, the spirit of Truth. Consequently he makes no compromise with anything unprincipled. He does not tolerate what he knows will be unsound or retrogressive in effect.

Mary Baker Eddy received the revelation of Christian Science, which designates God as Principle, or Love; and in that designation she saw the divine demand for absolute perfection. She made clear the Saviour's mission of proving that the spiritual and the material do not coalesce. She says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 451): "Christian Scientists must live under the constant pressure of the apostolic command to come out from the material world and be separate. They must renounce aggression, oppression and the pride of power." Renouncing these errors in themselves, they do not condone them in others. Their prayers, which recognize the reality of good alone, have power to prevent by not permitting evil.

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