AS a general rule men are indebted to their early education, rather than to their conscientious conviction, for their religious beliefs; hence the tenacity with which they often defend untenable positions and illogical deductions, even when proof to the contrary is offered them. Many look with disfavor or discredit upon whatever is not in line with their own views, and, instead of withholding their judgment for an impartial investigation, they are too apt to condemn upon mere rumor or upon their own adverse opinion. When one's judgment of another’s faith is determined by the contrast it presents to his own, it is usually very much biased and correspondingly valueless. And yet upon such inadequate and unjust basis rests all human opposition to new ideas and advanced systems.
This is especially true in the case of Christian Science, concerning whose teaching and practice so many jump to false conclusions, instead of reasoning out its statements and deductions from its own point of view, and examining its achievements without prejudice or antagonism. It is because of ignorance of the subject that some ridicule Christian Science, or treat it with ill-timed wit, or with aggressive and outspoken enmity; or that others, again, would subject it to the analysis of so-called material science to its apparent disadvantage. Doubtless these all believe they correctly apprehend the subject and dispose of it upon its merits, while the truth is they do not catch the first gleam of its real meaning, or interpret rightly a single part of its teaching.
Christian Scientists themselves declare that if they believed all they are sometimes credited with, they would deserve condemnation and reproach; but as a matter of fact their views are radically different from what is often ascribed to them. However much one may disapprove of Christian Science, as he regards it, he can but admit that it produces a beneficent effect, morally and physically, upon its believers and upon others who seek its aid; and that it has in consequence established its usefulness to mankind, a form of usefulness which the world sorely needs and whose benefits all men desire. When it is considered that it harms none, but does much good to many, and that it holds out the hope of final deliverance from evil, it is seen that it were better to examine this subject kindly and rationally, with the desire to understand the truth of its teachings, and to realize the good it contains, rather than to criticize or condemn it from no other reason than that it is contrary to what one has been taught or accustomed to believe.
