Article October 13, 2003 Issue

The divine right to be included

By Ron Ballard

Many people feel excluded at some time in life. Sometimes it's due to discrimination—by race, gender, age, religion, peer group, social status. Other times, people may feel that good is just not coming to them the way it is to others.

No matter what form exclusion takes, it's pretty demoralizing to feel left out. Fundamentally, everyone has a right to feel included, to belong and be respected, and many cultures recognize that basic right. But to say it is a right, and actually to experience it, are two different things. Even if a nation establishes constitutional rights to inclusion, it's no guarantee that everyone is going to experience the benefits equally.

Is there a platform for truly inalienable rights, other than just human codes, no matter how well-intentioned these codes may be? I've always valued a statement in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by the reformer and author Mary Baker Eddy: "God has built a higher platform of human rights, and He has built it on diviner claims. These claims are not made through code or creed, but in demonstration of 'on earth peace, good-will toward men.' Human codes, scholastic theology, material medicine and hygiene, fetter faith and spiritual understanding. Divine Science rends asunder these fetters, and man's birthright of sole allegiance to his Maker asserts itself" (p. 226).