Conquering moral idiocy and crime

DeWITT JOHN

It is not enough to be appalled by, afraid of, or resigned to the crime and violence so prevalent. The problem is by no means confined to any one country, but recent outcroppings in the United States have included a 13 percent overall increase in violent crime during 1980, as recorded in the annual FBI report; a wave of child killings in Atlanta; a succession of rapes in Boston; widespread reports of arson; and the assassination attempt on President Reagan. People naturally ask why; they want to know what can be done.

Such atrocities reflect something more than individual criminality; they are encouraged by the mental climate of society. This fact by no means excuses them. But it indicates the nature and dimensions of the problem—and the fact that all of us, individually and collectively, can contribute to a solution.

In a remarkably perceptive address in 1895, our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, warned her students of the darkest and most devious elements of sinful mortal thought. Urging alertness and prayerful mental action, she affirmed, "The increasing necessity for relying on God to defend us against the subtler forms of evil, turns us more unreservedly to Him for help, and thus becomes a means of grace." ^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 115.}