DOES the Christian Scientist believe in what is called direct action in social affairs? When direct action is properly defined and analyzed, we can answer Yes without any doubt.
There is always room for balanced, sober, and intelligent participation in fundamentally right social action. But the Christian Scientist will go deeper than just the surface estimate of what is needed. He understands, as certainly as do many others, that social wrongs have a mental base. Trying to change the surface conditions without changing the mental base of those conditions is like cutting off a weed at the top and then expecting it not to grow again.
The direct action that is needed is action to dissolve mentally and prayerfully the hatred, the prejudice, the fear, and the ignorance which make up the false mental base for wrong social conditions. These are the roots of the trouble. And here is where the Christian Scientist will find his abilities most useful and his action most direct.
