Q: I am a longtime reader of the Christian Science periodicals. But there is one thing that bothers me very much. With so many articles I have read over the years, I have encountered a few instances where Christian Scientists are involved with activities or livelihood related with killing, such as hunting, fishing, firearm restoration, etc. How can people who have such a deep insight about Christ-love, as taught by Mary Baker Eddy, have what seems to be such a blind spot when it comes to killing? I don’t mean to criticize, but just want to be clear on Christian Scientists’ stand on this. —A longtime reader
A1: This thoughtful question is one that I grappled with for a number of years. One sunny afternoon I was in the garden on our rural property when I witnessed our neighbors slaughtering a steer for food. Although the process was considered humane, this scene so shook me that I couldn’t stop crying for most of the day.
I realized that my sense of life needed to be more spiritually based. For ten years I prayed to find a better sense of life that can’t be killed, and a sense of nature that is divine and not brutish.
