In 1908, when Mary Baker Eddy asked the Christian Science Board of Directors to start at once a daily international newspaper and call it The Christian Science Monitor, they were startled. And not too surprisingly! When had a religious organization established a non-denominational publication to cover the news—a publication that sets a high ethical standard and provides its readers with top-flight journalism and a solutions-oriented approach to the problems of the world?
What is it about the theology of Christian Science that makes publishing the Monitor both logical and necessary? Further, what might Christian Scientists see more clearly of Christian Science theology and practice, so deeply rooted in Scripture, that would impel them to subscribe to the Monitor, since only a minority of the members of the Christian Science church do so?
The Hebrew Scriptures have a long history of spiritual seers from Moses to David to Jeremiah, to name a few. Despite their shyness, self-doubt, and, in some cases, modest lineage and position, God thrust these individuals into wrestling with questions of fairness, justice, honesty, integrity, and governance. While these seers and prophets often wanted to shrink from speaking and acting on social issues, not once did God allow them to go off and enjoy some sort of spiritual bliss in glorious isolation. In fact, the Hebrew Scriptures promote a singular love of and obedience to God, expressed through unflinching engagement with and commitment to the world.
The Monitor covers and uncovers global problems as states of mortal thought from which people have a right to be free.
The Greek Scriptures, or New Testament, does the same. Christ Jesus shows us what it means to love not only God but also our neighbor, and the physical healing that results from doing so. When someone tried to corner Jesus into defining neighbor in limited terms, Jesus told him a parable that suggests our neighbor is anyone who needs our help, and how neighborly we are depends on how mercifully and generously we treat others (see Luke 10:25–37). Moreover, Jesus encouraged us to think more broadly about where our neighbor is when he said, “You must go out to the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15, J. B. Phillips, The New Testament in Modern English).
The Christian Science Monitor gives its readers an opportunity to be a good neighbor to the world, not by preaching or proselytizing, but by covering the news in a way that helps us see the inherent goodness of all and that every one of God’s children is blessed with a high purpose. This invites thoughtful reader participation and inspires many to pray in response to the local and global issues the Monitor’s insightful reporting brings to our attention.
But perhaps what can best motivate Christian Scientists to subscribe to the Monitor is understanding that this selfless prayer allows us to expand our spiritual vision of God as infinite Spirit or Mind, and of everything existing as an expression of this one Mind. We have this revelation thanks to the promised Comforter, or divine Science, a reiteration of the Shema, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord” (Deuteronomy 6:4).
The Monitor is grounded in the metaphysics of Christian Science, and derives from it its character and mission. By helping us see the world in the light of divine Science, as Jesus did, thus healing and uplifting thought, the publication fulfills its mission “to spread undivided the Science that operates unspent” (Mary Baker Eddy, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 353). The healing metaphysics backing the Monitor finds expression in calm and in-depth reporting, objectivity, and respect for the reader, thereby “injur[ing] no man, but bless[ing] all mankind.”
In practice, how does Monitor journalism differ from other journalism? In the same way that Christian Science treatment differs from conventional medical treatment. The latter involves diagnosing illness as a reality and then seeking a cure in material procedures. Christian Science treatment includes no physical diagnosis, but a reading of the patient’s thought based on the infinitude of the one Mind reflected in every individual, and a recognition of sin and sickness as powerless and “unreal” (meaning that while they may appear to exist as a reality to the human mind, they are never real to the Mind that is God). The Monitor covers and uncovers global problems such as famine, corruption, crime, and economic injustice, not as God-created realities but as states of mortal thought from which people have a right to be free—because in truth God created us to be free.
For more than a century the Monitor has influenced the quality of journalism through its example. But perhaps its greatest strength lies in the quality of its readers and their prayers, empowered by the integrity by which they live their lives. Thus, the Monitor itself doesn’t change the world. Its readers improve the world as they come to love and appreciate Mrs. Eddy’s vision for the Monitor, subscribe to and read the publication, download and use its app, share its articles, use it as a basis for their prayers, and write for it. Their increased support will buoy the Monitor, enabling it to fulfill its mission more universally and to, in turn, bolster both the Church members’ practice of Christian Science and the Church that publishes it.
The Christian Science Monitor is a tremendous asset to the Church and to the world, and Mary Baker Eddy expected the world—starting with the members of her Church—to recognize its value.
