We cannot all be police officers on a beat, working to protect our society from crime and violence. But no matter what our situation is, we can definitely contribute to the moral and spiritual activity that alone can result in a safer, saner, more responsible populace.
The phrase "zero-tolerance of crime," used in an article in The Christian Science Monitor, Monitor, May 2, 1994. hit home with me. I remembered Mary Baker Eddy's statement in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures "Mortal mind, not matter, is the criminal in every case ..." Science and Health, p. 105. This definite statement left no doubt in my thought as to what needed to be addressed in taking a stand for lawful behavior. It is not people we are fighting but a wrong state of thought. I remembered, too, Christ Jesus' reference to evil, or mortal mind, as a liar and a murderer. See John 8:44 . This was an unqualified definition of that which would claim to govern people in ways that are harmful to themselves and others. Happily, the Scriptures also tell us that the real man is the image and likeness of God. This too is an unqualified statement. It is always true.
The man God made, the real and eternal selfhood of each of us, is neither a perpetrator nor a victim of crime. Being Godlike, the expression of the one divine Mind, man is not capable of doing wrong or being wronged. Nor can he be manipulated into serving that mind which "is the criminal in every case."
