Editorial October 16, 1995 Issue

Charity in the church

Mary Metzner Trammell

The tendency to confront one another—in battlefields and duels and court contests—is just about as old as humankind. It's as old as the tales of the ancient war gods: the Roman god Mars, or the Greek god Ares, or the Hindu god Indra, or the Norse god Thor. Or the Bible story about the warring brothers Cain and Abel. Or the yin-yang competitive dualism of ancient Chinese religion.

Of course, it's easy enough to see that war itself is an evil. But other forms of conflict may seem harmless enough—and maybe even useful. People often cite lawsuits, for instance, as appropriate settings for resolving business and marital and other kinds of disputes.

Yet, as former United States Chief Justice Warren Burger told the American Bar Association a little more than a decade ago, there are limits to what the court system can accomplish. And there are dangers in overusing that system. "To rely on the adversary process as the principal means of resolving conflicting claims," he said, "is a mistake that must be corrected. No other nation allows the adversary system to dominate relationships to the extent we do."

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From the Editors
Two letters from Mary Baker Eddy on the subject of litigation
October 16, 1995
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