A new editor, an enduring commitment

At a tumultuous time for both American democracy and journalism, we mark a new beginning with the passing of the baton between editors. But it’s our founder’s mission, not a name on the masthead, that leads us forward.

The Christian Science Monitor was forged in a crucible of yellow journalism. The press in that era vilified our founder, Mary Baker Eddy. And yet, when she established a daily newspaper in 1908, she did not use it to retaliate against her adversaries but to uplift the standard of journalism and the tenor of public discourse. In our first issue, she wrote, “The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.”

She lived that precept before she gave it to us as a mandate for our journalism. Her commitment, and ours over the past 116 years, gives our mission credibility and staying power amid today’s uncertainty and division. It anchors us amid the churning seas of human events, as it always has.

There’s a great hunger for journalism to speak the truth today. And we are committed to that. There’s nothing I loved more as a reporter than digging for the facts – whether in the Constitution or in a spreadsheet of government data or in the dirt being sifted by archaeologists on a dusty hilltop in Israel.

But our commitment goes further; it gets to the spirit in which we approach our work.

The Bible advises “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). This kind of love upholds the right of every individual to self-government, reason, and conscience, qualities our founder extolled. Our goal is not to tell you what to think, but to give you the essential knowledge and understanding you need to come to your own well-reasoned views.

And so, our mission – grounded in both truth and love – impels us to discern the motives that shape events, and the shifts in thought that drive human progress through higher ideals of justice, mercy, and wisdom.

We share with you, our readers, an extraordinary opportunity to uplift our view of this moment in history. To see more clearly what is shifting, and why – and where the path forward lies. We couldn’t do it without you. So thank you for embarking on this next chapter of Monitor journalism with us.

This column first appeared in the March 3 issue of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly. Subscribe today to receive future issues of the Monitor Weekly magazine delivered to your home.