Article December 5, 1994 Issue

The government of The Mother Church

Part Two

John R. Peterson

Editors' note: Mr. Peterson, a Christian Science practitioner and teacher, is a former President and also a former General Counsel of The First Church of Christ, Scientist. The following is the second part of a two-part article that began last week. In the first part, the founding of the Church and the establishment of its from of government were discussed. Part two looks further at the method of government and how it is administered and enforced.

When Mary Baker Eddy reorganized the Church of Christ, Scientist, in 1892, she at first felt it wise to have a very limited power of voting in some of the members. Soon, however, she abolished even this, so that her Church was not subject to the human mind through its opinions, votes, and politics.

She also was led to make no provision in the Manual of The Mother Church for traditional ecclesiastical tribunals acting in judicial capacity, rendering opinions and considering appeals from decisions of officers or internal church bodies. The Library of Congress in the capital of the United States has shelf after shelf filled with heavy volumes of the church law of various denominations, bearing mute witness to the well-intentioned efforts of the human mind to make its law more equitable by making it more and more complex and detailed to fit various circumstances as they arise.

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