Article August 31, 1974 Issue

Overrule Heredity

SHARON SLATON HOWELL

Children have the God-given right to a happy, stable life experience. For a human parent to assume that his child will inherit certain mental or bodily weaknesses from his ancestors may be to severely limit him. Christian Science rejects material theories of heredity. It accepts the statement attributed to God in the book of Ezekiel: "What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge?... Behold, all souls are mine." Ezek. 18:2, 4;

Christian Science teaches that, human belief and education to the contrary, material laws of heredity do not govern man. In the spiritual reality of being each of us originates not in two people who have an assortment of defects and deficiencies that can be passed on to helpless offspring, but in God, the divine Father-Mother, who is infinite, perfect Mind and manifests Himself in faultless creation. As Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health: "In Science man is the offspring of Spirit. The beautiful, good, and pure constitute his ancestry." Science and Health, p. 63;

Almost everyone agrees physical cruelty to children is despicable. But under the name of heredity, maltreatment is often unwittingly condoned by well-meaning people. Children may be labeled as taking after some progenitor in some unfortunate way—as perhaps mean, inept, or plain good-for-nothing. Parents may even look for these qualities to develop. If so, they may well find their offspring fulfilling their low expectations.

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