Article April 25, 2011 Issue

Trustworthy government—present now

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The popular revolts sweeping North Africa and the Middle East have excited hopes that Arabs, long oppressed by autocratic rulers, will find new and lasting freedom. But as Egypt is beginning to discover, the path from spontaneous uprising to meaningful reform is one that requires patience and persistence. Already, economic hardship, coordinated violence, and unjust treatment and trial of detainees have clouded Egyptians’ jubilation at having ousted former president Hosni Mubarak.

In this period of tremendous change, unprecedented for at least half a century in that region, there is a great desire for better government—government that is just, trustworthy, and a guarantor of freedom. How is such government to be found and established, both in nations and individual lives? Sentinel founder Mary Baker Eddy pointed to the God that led the children of Israel out of Egypt, delivered Daniel in the lions’ den, and unloosed the bands of Paul and Silas in prison (see Ex., chaps. 3—12; Dan. 6:1–23; Acts 16:25–40).

“God has endowed man with inalienable rights, among which are self-government, reason, and conscience,” she wrote in her seminal book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. “Man is properly self‐governed only when he is guided rightly and governed by his Maker, divine Truth and Love” (p. 106).

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