Article August 10, 2009 Issue

Prayer in the newsroom

David Canning has been a journalist in South Africa for more than 40 years, the past seven of them as editor of one of the country's most influential daily newspapers, The Mercury. He tells us how he prayed his way through many challenges during the apartheid era.

My first day as a journalist, in 1966, was momentous because I then also encountered Christian Science for the first time. Through its study, I found real answers to questions that had troubled me for years. I learned a little of how to pray correctly, which helped me face varied challenges.

During the apartheid years, and despite many signs to the contrary, I held to the thought that God is "working His purpose out / As year succeeds to year" (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 82). A section of the South African media was to a degree an outlet for opposition voices. Our newspapers most importantly served as a national conscience, keeping public pressure on the then-government. I believe these newspapers played a significant role in changing the mental climate that led to peaceful change in the country.

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