Article November 28, 1970 Issue

"Cast out fashionable lunacy"

JOAN G. MAC INTIRE

The phrase used in the title appears in one of four directives written by Mrs. Eddy to members of a branch Church of Christ, Scientist. In full the sentence reads: "Heal the sick, make spotless the blemished, raise the living dead, cast out fashionable lunacy."^{ The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 192;} The last words are so thought-arresting that we do well to examine how pertinent they are to our times and ourselves.

One dictionary definition of the word "fashionable" is, "Merely echoing or imitating thoughtlessly or irresponsibly a contemporary fashion rather than acting responsibly or with a full awareness of essential issues." Definitions of the word "lunacy" include: "Wild foolishness, extravagant folly," as well as "absurdity, stupidity."

A question naturally follows such unflattering descriptions. What extreme trend in current thought identifies the phrase "fashionable lunacy" as needing to be cast out? Just this: a small but insistent segment of our contemporaries suggests that people put aside their moral consciousness, as well as some of the provisions for wise and happy behavior found in the Mosaic Decalogue and the Sermon on the Mount. By tempting the individual to withhold judgments on his own or others' acts, that is, to assume a neutral, amoral view of human conduct, moral blindness identifies itself as the fashionable lunacy of the hour.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Testimonies—Inspired Communications