A life of self-respect is one that expresses what is pure and ennobling and is free from what is degrading and unworthy. Who does not long for such a life? Is it possible to attain?
Christian Science answers an unequivocal yes. And here is the reason. Soul, as understood in Christian Science, is a synonym for God. Soul is the source and true substance of all that is good and uplifting. Man is the spiritual idea of Soul, God's likeness, and as such shows forth the qualities and faculties of Soul. Soul imparts to man the consciousness of all that is pure and lovely and true. The divine faculties and qualities are native to man. They are built in, established by God; therefore it is natural and effortless for man to express them. Impurity, poverty, diseased conditions, deprivation, are foreign to man because foreign to his Maker, God.
Our hearts go out in compassion to those who live in substandard conditions or are overcome with disease parading as law. We rise up in rebellion against such indignities wherever and whenever they exist, because humanity has a divine right to be free from demeaning and stressful conditions. Evil need not be helplessly endured. It can be eliminated through scientific prayer and spiritual understanding.