The member who suggested our topic — and would therefore have been facilitator for the evening — couldn't get to the meeting. We had to improvise a bit.

Others had readings for the occasion. One member had looked up Democracy in the Britannica and gave us a quick education.

The word means people power and rests on majority rule. Pure democracy is said to have prevailed in Athens, but women were not allowed to vote and slavery provided the leisure for the voting citizens to pursue their governmental duties. (That sounds like the U.S. when it got underway). Eventually there was much bribe taking and other corruption resulting in chaos. Both Plato and Aristotle thought democracy a bad idea.

After the rise of Rome (an oligarchy evolving into an empire) there was no democracy. The feudalism of the Dark Ages was replaced by absolute monarchies.

American democracy can be seen as rooted in English political evolution which devolved power from the crown to parliament. What we have in the US is representative constitutional democracy — i.e., governance effected through elected representatives, but with majority rule restrained by protections for minorities (certainly good news for Gay people).

Our member noted that many totalitarian countries call themselves democratic and this may be partially true. They emphasize economic and social equality while denying political freedom. Another member said studies have shown this kind of experiment does break down in the long run.

All very interesting but it was time to get some Science flowing. One member speculated whether Christian Science could have been discovered and promulgated in a country that did not have our revolutionary fervor and a Bill of Rights. Mrs. Eddy apparently saw Science as a further step in the evolving freedom of man initiated in our Revolution.

Another member said we need to hold the "mirror of Science"up to all political unfoldments. There is so much mesmerism passing itself off as political truth, so many seeming mortals jostling for power that we must constantly turn to the realities of being to gain the true picture. Rightful government is based on a thinning of material belief to become a transparency for Truth.

Another member had read the Robert Peel biography of Mrs. Eddy, "Years of Authority", to get a feel for how the curious federal system of government came about for The Mother Church. Her original idea of a fully democratic Congregational system went down in chaos in 1887. Four years later she established the self-perpetuating and therefore autocratic Christian Science Board of Directors. She went on to establish the branches as fully democratic, and specified that there must be no interference in their governments by another church, including the one in Boston. At both levels, however, the "democracy of prayer"as one of Mrs. Eddy's students put it, must be availed — not mere human will and influence.

One member intuited that this dual structure gives students experience in dealing with both authoritarian and democratic processes. Should he feel any less secure vis-à-vis one or the other? We build on a rock, or Christ, by realizing the divinity of all, whatever the human belief about them.

Another member pointed out that a system of headquarters and branches is a symbolic representation of God and man, or Christ and disciples. The power at the center is available at the outer reaches of the system; Jesus and Mrs. Eddy both emphasized this point in their teachings and expected their students to exercise the power of God in all activities.

The group felt that in order for a democratic form of government to function its citizens need education, good information and leadership. If these are lacking we're set up for manipulation, shrinking prosperity and perhaps even dictatorship. Christian Science is particularly interesting in this area, for its thrust is towards education (Class Instruction, the weekly Bible Lessons), information (The Christian Science Monitor, established to hold up a standard against yellow journalism) and leadership (Mrs. Eddy whom we follow only so far as she follows Christ). There is also the emphasis in Science on questioning every human opinion — is it mesmerism or based some fact of Mind?

We went through a few issues facing our community as they relate to democracy. One member got quite exercised about our tendency to support a Gay agenda without digging deeper using the tools provided by Science to promote healing in situations.

1) Should we boycott Dr. Laura Schlessinger's advertisers or just not look at her show? Perhaps we could use her statements as launching pads for the truth and occasions to let go of vestiges of internalized homophobia still haunting us.

2) Should we support hate crime legislation or concentrate our effort on praying to see the impossibility of hate. All agreed hate crime legislation is at least an important symbol in a pluralistic democracy, but felt it most inadvisable to rest on it as a real protection.

3) The so-called "Take Back Vermont"movement is jarring to Gay people who have just achieved full legal equivalency with heterosexuals in partnering. Such a move may require a constitutional amendment but in the meantime much education in our issues can occur. We noted the full marriage rights granted Gay people in the Netherlands. Won't it be interesting to see how married Gay diplomats as well as employees of Shell, Philips and Lever will be treated abroad? One member said he would see Vermont not taken back somewhere but right in Heaven where it has always been.

Finally, we got to this: Democracy is an important human concept. It indicates the equality and infinity of all ideas in God. Mortal mind will fight to contort and limit this reality but our work is to usher Heaven to earth by living ourselves and others as we truly are. Governmental and other forms have no option but to comply with Truth.

For next week we want to look at Respect. Gay kids today are not interested in mere tolerance but require respect. It seems to us like a good idea for everyone to require and to practice.