As free moral agents, Christian Scientists champion the practice of democracy wherever it exists. They know that the political liberties exercised in a democratic society—such as free worship, free speech, free press—testify to the individual's inalienable right of free thought. This sacred right derives from no lesser authority than God Himself, the one supreme Judge, Lawgiver, and King, who is the divine Principle of man's spiritual freedom.
In praying for humanity, Christian Scientists know that the solution to all political wrong, at home or abroad, is ultimately metaphysical. They therefore consecrate themselves to demonstrating more fully the truth of what their Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, writes: "The Church, more than any other institution, at present is the cement of society, and it should be the bulwark of civil and religious liberty." Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 144-145.
As founded by Mrs. Eddy, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, is the essence of pure democracy. But democracy in this Church is not politics as usual. Those who would quarrel over certain of our Leader's provisions in the Manual of The Mother Church—such as the self-perpetuating appointment by The Christian Science Board of Directors—wrongly argue that such government is undemocratic.
