One of the main issues causing considerable debate among Christian and other religious communities today is aptly summed up in the headline of a recent article in U.S. News & World Report: "Is God lost as sales rise?" U.S. News & World Report, March 13, 1995. The question this debate raises is whether promotion is really compatible with Christianity, and, of particular interest to this publication, with Christian Science.
Both the media and some Christian Scientists have apparently been surprised recently at the openness to the world of the Church of Christ, Scientist, in connection with the launching of a new edition of the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. The media have been surprised because for many years they have heard relatively little about the Church except for the prosecution in the courts of Christian Scientist parents for relying on prayer for the physical healing of their children. And some Christian Scientists have been surprised because they find it difficult to reconcile such promotional activities with their view of what the Christian Science Church is all about. As in other denominations, some members have equated an openness to the world with a supposed adoption by the Church of worldly policies and a consequent dilution of the purity of the religion. The Christian Science Journal believes that a healing community of interest can be found on this subject.
The Latin origin of the verb promote indicates that it has a very simple meaning—to move something forward. Seen in this light, the promotion of something means simply the moving forward of that thing.
