Religious conflict is as old as history, although it may seem to us to have increased alarmingly in recent years. Bloody revolutions and wars are being fought in efforts to enforce prescribed religions on dissenters. Even where the conflict is not one of open warfare, the persecution sometimes threatens to be devastating.
From the beginning of the Christian Science movement down through the present, Christian Scientists have felt a certain amount of opposition from many directions. Such hostility has been aroused by the same hatred of the Christ-idea that persecuted Jesus. But that hatred was no match for the love the Master taught and expected his followers to emulate. He insisted, "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Matt. 5:10.
Blessed! Not devastated. And why? Because divine Love finds a way even in extreme situations. Many times it reconciles differences. But even if it doesn't, it leads us through. Isaiah records God's promise: "Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee." Isa. 43:1,2. The floods of hatred can't drown Love or the Church of Christ, Scientist, which it structures.
