An Unfounded Connection

A Letter to the Editor of the Church Times

From Mrs Robin Harragin Hussey

Sir, — I cannot think of a faith more opposed to the “Positive Thinking” that Canon Angela Tilby writes about (Comment, 16 October, published in the13 November edition) than Christian Science (yet she implies that Christian Science is one of the sources for the religious positivism espoused by Norman Vincent Peale and his church, which Donald Trump attended as a young man.

This connection is unfounded. Christian Science did indeed emerge in America at the same time as what came to be called the New Thought movement, from which Peale drew his ideas. But it is very different from it, not least in its rejection of the human mind as the source for effective change and healing.

The teachings of Christian Science are grounded in the view that an infinite and loving God is the only source of all good. The founder of the movement, Mary Baker Eddy, was aware of how others around her were promoting the power of the mind and spoke of the “fact that the human mind alone suffers, is sick, and that the divine Mind (God) alone heals”.

At this time, Christian Scientists are far more likely to be humbly praying to know and see more of God’s goodness and loving-kindness to humanity than thinking of their own achievements and success.

ROBIN HARRAGIN HUSSEY
Christian Science Committee on Publication, London; District Manager for UK and Ireland

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