PERSPECTIVE ON THE NEWS March 12, 1979 Issue

Restraint on retaliation

It is never justifiable from a Christian standpoint to demand "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth."^{Matt. 5:38;} Retaliation, which often brings suffering to innocent people, is always morally indefensible and spiritually invalid. No benefit is ever attained by returning evil for evil.

On the other hand, the law of Love is healing and constructive, and that law can always be immediately operative in the affairs of nations that have been attacked as well as of individuals. This is true today in Vietnam, Cambodia, the Middle East; in Northern Ireland, Rhodesia, and elsewhere in the world. Divine law is operative everywhere and in all circumstances—whether the instigative hatred is of ancient or modern origin. To the extent that individuals allow the law of Love to govern their own lives, they help to demonstrate this on a national and international scale.

By restraining the impulse to retaliate, and insisting through prayer on the power of divine Principle to right all wrongs, we can all promote the cause of peaceful adjustment of whatever is wrong in international affairs. We can do this with confidence that justice will be fully done. Mary Baker Eddy writes: "If you have been badly wronged, forgive and forget: God will recompense this wrong, and punish, more severely than you could, him who has striven to injure you. Never return evil for evil..."^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 12;}