Article June 13, 1983 Issue

ITEM FROM THE PRESS

From Christian Science Committees on Publication

with contributions from editor, Music professor

A few months ago controversy began to stir in South Carolina newspapers. Headlines spoke of heresy. Letters to the Editor warned against cult members at a local university. A Baptist Convention took a vote to determine whether to expel a faculty member at a leading Baptist university. And it was all over the subject of Christian Science.

The faculty member was a Christian Scientist and had been quietly teaching music at the university for eighteen years. He was a greatly respected member of the community. Naturally, he and his fellow Christian Scientists prayed. The Committee on Publication made information on Christian Science available and wrote corrective letters. Undoubtedly many Baptists prayed too! The result was an encouraging change of atmosphere. The following editorial in a local newspaper describes the resolution, and the statement by the Christian Scientist perhaps helps to show the qualities of courage and humility that contributed to the healing.

Most Baptists were probably extremely embarrassed when word got out that the Greer Baptist Association intended to call for the dismissal of a tenured Furman University faculty member for being a Christian Scientist. But when the resolution was finally put to the South Carolina Baptist Convention on Wednesday, it had already been watered down. The issue was finally defused by a decision to send the resolution, which merely asks that Baptists be given hiring-preference, to the trustees of the university.

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