Skip to footer

Unity in the face of terror

A Christian Science perspective: Finding comfort and hope in the spiritual fact that there is one God, and He is good.

  • By Robin Harragin Hussey

Last week I visited Lorca Castle in central Spain. In medieval times it was the flashpoint between Islamic and Christian territories. In the beautifully structured ancient cistern, the castle curators have created a simple display about the two religions. Across the floor are sayings attributed to the Islamic sacred text, the Quran. One of them simply states, “Two religions, one God.”

I was deeply moved because I live very near the two bridges over the River Thames in London where twice in the past two months terrorists created mayhem by deliberately driving into pedestrians. In the most recent attack, three Islamists also stabbed many people in the popular area of Borough Market, where my daughters and I go often. So this has added poignancy for me, and the idea of one God has brought me particular comfort.

The terrorists believe that there is good and bad religion, but both the Bible and the Quran tell us that there is one God. No matter what is going on, the spiritual fact remains that there is only one God, one cause and creator of man – of all of us – and the universe. There is deep, healing meaning in this, especially when we consider what Christian Science explains of the nature of God as entirely good.

As we come to understand our God-derived common goodness, divisions, hatred, and fear can begin to melt away. Such transformation has been described in a marvelous way by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, who said: “One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; constitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the Scripture, ‘Love thy neighbor as thyself;’ ...” and, she goes on, “leaves nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 340).

In the Bible’s book of Genesis, there is a story about two boys, Isaac and Ishmael, who became the progenitors of two great peoples – Jews and Arabs (see chapter 22). They were Abraham’s sons, and he had to choose between them. Crying out to God in consternation about having to send Ishmael away, Abraham was assured by God, “Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad,” and God added the promise that both sons would achieve their destiny. In God’s eyes, both were loved. One was not better than the other.

This is what it means to have one God. All of us are equally loved and valued by the Divine, who created us purely spiritual and good. When we’re expressing love and caring, we’re living in line with our true, God-given identity.

Therefore our role, when we witness these acts of terror, is not to despair. It is to consciously live according to the First Commandment acknowledging only one God, and to draw hope from the powerful promise that this God’s ever-active love for us all does preserve and unify us.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Unity in the face of terror
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/A-Christian-Science-Perspective/2017/0609/Unity-in-the-face-of-terror
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe