FROM THE EDITORS September 7, 2009 Issue

HUMAN RIGHTS: MAKE PRAYER, NOT WAR

ETHNIC TENSION IN A CHINESE TOY FACTORY leads to violence that ends up with at least a thousand people injured and 192 killed—and the underlying issues still unresolved. A Chechen human rights activist, Natalya Estemirova, is kidnapped on her way to work and later found dead. The leadership succession in North Korea is still uncertain, as various reports about Kim Jong-il's health are released. While the war in Iraq may be winding down, the conflict in Pakistan and Afghanistan is heating up. Meanwhile, Iranians continue to struggle against a domineering ruling hierarchy.

These may seem like separate examples of instability, at a time when many are still distracted by the global economic crisis and its effects. Underneath, however, there's a burgeoning desire for human rights—the right to equality, respect, honest elections, safety from terrorism, and freedom from fear. And these aren't the only parts of the world yearning for freedoms. To achieve these rights doesn't have to require violence, although some might feel that is the only solution. What it really requires is prayer.

This magazine's founder, Mary Baker Eddy, grew up in a free country, but she knew well the enslaving effects of sickness, of being misunderstood and hated as a woman who spoke in public, who challenged the then male bastions of science, theology, and medicine. Her writings ring with conviction when she speaks of human rights, especially in relation to healing. And they also apply to the kind of violence reported in the press. To follow her guidance is to achieve genuine and lasting freedom.

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