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America’s three revolutions: How Christian Science helps propel humanity’s ongoing march to freedom
by Abraham McLaughlin
from The Christian Science Journal, July 2026
Only in Boston could such a revolutionary view possibly exist. From a ninth-floor window of the Christian Science Publishing House, three towers, lined up in perfect sync, come into view. Each symbolizes a revolutionary struggle. And together they embody, in soaring stone, one of the most intriguing things Mary Baker Eddy, the Founder of Christian Science, wrote. It’s a passage with special resonance as America celebrates its 250th year of independence:
“Christian Science and the senses are at war. It is a revolutionary struggle. We already have had two in this nation; and they began and ended in a contest for the true idea, for human liberty and rights. Now cometh a third struggle; for the freedom of health, holiness, and the attainment of heaven” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 101).
Three revolutions, rising toward complete freedom for all:
The American Revolution, sparking the global spread of freedom from tyranny, and the rise of self-government;
The end of legalized slavery in the United States, after a centuries-long struggle for abolition;
The Science of Christianity revealing that all being is wholly spiritual; this revolutionary truth enables anyone to rely on the teachings of Christ Jesus in order to demonstrate freedom from all disharmony.
In all, the three towers represent a view of humanity’s continuing march to freedom. The first tower is the Dorchester Heights Monument (on facing page, see white spire in the distance at left). It commemorates the moonlit night in March 1776 when General George Washington’s troops silently hauled pieces of artillery onto this strategic hilltop. At dawn, occupying British troops below realized they were outgunned, and they soon retreated to Nova Scotia. This handed Washington his first big victory of the war—with hardly a shot fired.
This early turning point offered fresh hope that self-government—honoring each individual’s dignity and worth—could be the basis for building a thriving nation. Even today Bostonians celebrate that British retreat every March 17 as “Evacuation Day.”
The middle tower is the stone steeple of Union Church. During the Civil War, Black congregants from churches like Union joined the Northern Army. (At that point, Union’s congregation worshiped elsewhere; they relocated in 1949 to this building, which was built in 1872.)
This spiritual revolution extends the battle entirely to the mental realm.
The presence of Black Civil War soldiers on battlefields represented the broader hope that, as abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison put it, a divine law could be more widely demonstrated: “Liberty for each, for all, and forever!”
Even today, on New Year’s Eve, Union Church holds a “Watch Night” service full of prayers and songs of hope and freedom. It echoes “Freedom’s Eve,” the final night of 1862, when Black congregations nationwide prayed for, and welcomed in, President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which took effect New Year’s Day.
The third tower is the granite belfry of The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist. In one sense, the first two revolutions are seamless prologues to the third: Even before the American Revolution ended, abolitionists were agitating to end slavery in the United States, and it was finally legally abolished in 1865. Then, in 1866, Mrs. Eddy discovered Christian Science. She wrote in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures:
“The voice of God in behalf of the African slave was still echoing in our land, when the voice of the herald of this new crusade sounded the keynote of universal freedom, asking a fuller acknowledgment of the rights of man as a Son of God, demanding that the fetters of sin, sickness, and death be stricken from the human mind and that its freedom be won, not through human warfare, not with bayonet and blood, but through Christ’s divine Science” (p. 226).
This spiritual revolution extends the battle entirely to the mental realm. Its combatants learn to see the Christ, the spiritual idea of God, revealing the already-truth of God’s all-harmonious being and man’s reflection of divine harmony. This recognition of what’s spiritually real causes a natural adjustment in our experience called healing.
This revolution has touched many realms of thought. For instance:
A revolution in health care: Through reliance on the all-goodness of God alone, individuals have achieved the freedom of bodily health. This magazine, published since 1883, and its sister publications have recorded tens of thousands of instances of such healing, many of diseases commonly considered incurable. In just the past year, these magazines have published verified healings of migraines, malaria, heart trouble, venereal disease, insomnia, infertility, and more.
A revolution in church: With no priests and no human pastors, this revolution offers direct, 24/7 access to truth through its dual pastor, the Bible and Science and Health. Also, local branches of The Church of Christ, Scientist, are “distinctly democratic” (Mary Baker Eddy, Church Manual, p. 74), more akin to the small early Christian churches than to hierarchical ecclesia or churches centered on the ups and downs of personal preaching.
A revolution in how we see the world: The international newspaper The Christian Science Monitor dares to cover the world in sober yet hopeful ways that allow readers to see and support progress, hope, and blessing for all humanity.
Science and Health utters revolutionary new-old truths.
And yet, Mrs. Eddy had no illusion this revolution would be easy. She writes, “Legally to abolish unpaid servitude in the United States was hard”—a remarkable understatement—“but the abolition of mental slavery is a more difficult task” (Science and Health, p. 225). Why? Because, she continues, “The despotic tendencies, inherent in mortal mind and always germinating in new forms of tyranny, must be rooted out through the action of the divine Mind.”
In Christian Science practice, abolishing mental slavery starts with self-immolation—with prayerfully leaning on divine Mind, God, to overcome “self-ignorance, self-will, self-righteousness, lust, covetousness, envy, revenge.” Yet we can “be of good cheer,” she said, because “the warfare with one’s self is grand” and “obedience crowns persistent effort with everlasting victory” (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 118).
Meanwhile, the long-throw view, exemplified by the three towers visible from the Publishing House’s ninth floor, can bolster today’s revolutionaries. What does this view do?
It offers context. The work of Christian Science is not that of an isolated denomination or a fringe few. Demonstrating the truth, individually and collectively, is the central work of the ages. It is the work of establishing the revealed truth that God is all—the only Principle, Love—and, by this, spreading the great goodness this understanding brings to humanity.
It offers hope. Others have faced similar challenges, leaned on the power of the Divine, and prevailed. Fighting the world’s strongest military at the time, George Washington relied on what he called
“Divine Providence” and routed the redcoats from Boston. Later, antislavery crusaders from Boston and beyond leaned on “the good Lord” and saw freedom prevail. Today, readers of Science and Health lean on “the sustaining infinite” (p. vii) and see freedom and healing proved in their lives and in the world.
It offers confidence. Even if the struggle is long, victory is assured. Revolutions are often works in progress. For instance, the right of self-government did win out in the American Revolution, and this sparked an era of expanding democracy. Yet the quest for self-government for all continues today, including amid a general trend of rising authoritarianism around the globe.
Also, uttering the truth that “all men are created equal” ultimately launched a Civil War that ended legal slavery in America. Yet the quest for full equality continues.
And Science and Health utters revolutionary new-old truths, but “centuries will intervene,” Mrs. Eddy wrote, “before the statement of the inexhaustible topics of that book become sufficiently understood to be absolutely demonstrated” (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 92).
Meanwhile, daily victories are won. In The Mother Church and its branches around the world, every Sunday and Wednesday during services, groups of what we might call spiritual revolutionaries gather. Echoing Evacuation Day celebrations and Watch Night services, they hear inspiration from an impersonal pastor and, on Wednesdays, testify to the healing power of these era-changing truths. With each service attended, each truth uttered, each healing celebrated, the revolution continues.
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This article was published in the July 2026 issue of The Christian Science Journal. To learn more about this monthly magazine, published online and in print, visit HERE.
