Democratic government is an absolute necessity for the progress of any branch Church of Christ, Scientist. Yet many Christian Scientists live in countries with little or no democratic tradition. Sometimes working out democratic procedures can then be a problem. But much more important than the procedures themselves is the spirit of democracy underlying them. Without this spirit, the oldest of democratic traditions can be undermined, and there's no guarantee that even the best bylaws will be democratically carried out. Notions of class privilege, the subordination of the citizen to the state, elitist thinking, racism, personal adulation, all inhibit the development of democracy.
But Mary Baker Eddy, the Founder of Christian Science, didn't make provision for anything less than full branch church democracy. She states unequivocally in the Manual of The Mother Church: "In Christian Science each branch church shall be distinctly democratic in its government, and no individual, and no other church shall interfere with its affairs." Man., Art. XXIII, Sect. 10.
Democracy is no mystery. Basically it's no more than putting into practice the biblical law commended by Christ Jesus: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."Matt. 22:39. When we realize something of man's spiritual identity in the image and likeness of God, who is divine Love, we are forced by simple honesty and Christian love to admit the universality of this fact. All people, in their spiritual, individual nature, are equal before God. Because this spiritual equality is absolute truth, we are empowered right here, in the not-so-perfect human scene, to accept and practice the equality of rights, opportunity, and treatment that is the spirit and essence of democracy.
