|Imagine again what would happen to our educational system if it were to
pass under the control of Mrs. Eddy's party. The majority of studies
now pursued would be eliminated from the course. No Christian Scientist
would see the need of knowing anything about physiology, anatomy,
chemistry, biology, botany, geology, or any of the fundamental physical
sciences. To teach these would be an admission of the reality of the
material universe and a denial of the doctrine that all is illusion and
error except "Divine" mind. But what would become of a nation reared
in ignorance of the physical world and the laws which govern it?
Industrially such a nation must slip to the bottom of the line, leaving
the commerce of the world in the hands of those who study and master
the physical sciences. The Eddyites would not care, since they are not
interested in the material life, and would be glad to demonstrate that
it is possible to maintain life without food, as it is possible to
maintain generation without sex.
With the Christian Science dogma in force, every book out of harmony
with it would be excluded from our public libraries. Think you a
Christian Science librarian, if free to do as he thought best, would
permit the reading of books filled with "mortal error," the cause of
disease and death, and thereby postpone the coming of the kingdom of
Mrs. Eddy? If to-day you can scarcely find a Christian Scientist who
will read or hear anything opposed to his creed, and if at present
Christian Scientists allow in their churches only two books--the Bible
and the works of Mrs. Eddy--are they going to allow more than two books
in our schools, libraries, and homes, should they acquire control of the
government? People think that Eddyism is only a sort of drugless cure
and no more; on the contrary, Eddyism, with its overemphasis on the
_divine_ is the sworn foe of everything human. Huxley has well said that
modern civilization rests upon physical science. "Take away her gifts,
and our country's position among the civilized nations of the world
is gone to-morrow. It is physical science that makes intelligence
and morality stronger than brute force." How splendidly true, and how
refreshing is common sense after so much nonsense!
The physical sciences are not the only studies which Christian
Scientists will suppress should they come into power. History, ethics,
and the humanities will also be forbidden. To a Christian Scientist the
history of the centuries before Mrs. Eddy's discovery is summed up
in one word--error. No Christian Scientist will teach the history of
error--of illusion and "mortal mind." Even the late World War was to
them only an unreality. There was, according to Mrs. Eddy's followers,
no war at all, for war means disharmony, and in God's universe there is
room only for harmony. It is true that young men of this faith went
to war, and some of them, unfortunately, were killed in battle.
Nevertheless, no Christian Scientist could be conscious of anything but
harmony, and therefore no Christian Scientist logically could write
of the War or of any event in history which would necessitate the
recognition of evil. God himself, who is perfect harmony, did not know
there was a war in Europe, said the committee on Christian Science
publications in explaining the attitude of their Church on the War.