PRESPECTIVE ON THE NEWS June 11, 1979 Issue

Desegregation, discrimination, and the law of Love

Twenty-five years ago the United States Supreme Court made a historic decision abolishing segregation in public schools. Its decision inaugurated a period of social reform in the U.S., shattering legal underpinnings of racial discrimination. It also encouraged more genuine acceptance of the equality of blacks and whites. Many problems in this area remain unresolved, however; the momentum of reform may be slowing. In other countries such as Zimbabwe Rhodesia and South Africa—albeit under different circumstances—the demand for equality has brought soul-searching.

Humanity progresses spiritually as it perceives more clearly the nature of God to be impartial Love, the Father and Mother of all. After discussing the increasingly spiritual significance of the biblical term "Lord," Mrs. Eddy adds: "This human sense of Deity yields to the divine sense, even as the material sense of personality yields to the incorporeal sense of God and man as the infinite Principle and infinite idea,—as one Father with His universal family, held in the gospel of Love."^{Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, pp. 576-577;}

Almost two thousand years ago another decision affecting social integration was made, one even more far-reaching in its results than the Court decision. People today might say initially the disciple Peter was a racist. To him, strict avoidance of Gentiles was simply part of being a pious Jew.

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