Article July 2, 1984 Issue

Contributing to the solution of crime

MARY ELIZABETH G. BAKER

If one has a deep Christian desire to help free mankind from victimization by crime, isn't dealing with the fear of becoming a victim a good place to start?

Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health: "Christian scientific practice begins with Christ's keynote of harmony, 'Be not afraid!' Said Job: 'The thing which I greatly feared is come upon me.'"^{Science and Health, pp. 410–411.} Clearly there is a necessity for a criminal to repent and be redeemed. But what is our responsibility? Beliefs in the reality of evil, as well as fear of becoming a victim of evil, are the opposites of Christian mental practice. These beliefs tend to enlarge on evil rather than destroy it. In a sense, they contribute to crime rather than solve it. But once one realizes that crime is at bottom a false belief that would enthrall both criminal and victim, he can, through prayer, begin to destroy it.

Christian Science, the theology of Christ Jesus, explains that God is Love, the Principle which governs everything that God has made. Because God is good, what He creates is capable only of being and doing good. Because God is good, goodness is infinite and ever present. The evil we call crime has in spiritual fact no existence, because it is not an idea in the one infinite Mind, which is God. And because the divine Principle, Mind, is all-powerful, the belief of criminality under any guise is powerless to insert itself into God's kingdom to tempt, motivate, or victimize.

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