Princestia

I feel like having a riff on the insular culture of Christian Science. My inspiration comes from a discussion thread in a group I’m in about goings-on in the wider Principia community. Principia, for those not in the know, is a school and college for Christian Scientists, located in St. Louis, Missouri (school), and Elsah, Illinois (college). One person in the thread referred to Principia as ‘Princest-Land’. I laughed at that term, as it is such an apt description of the somewhat insular-to-the-point-of-incestuous Principia community, so I riffed off that and came up with my new name for Principia: Princestia.

Five Questions–Principia Edition: My Answers

In collaboration with my fellow blogger at Kindism, I’m answering another edition of “Five Questions”; this time, it’s the Prin edition. We have also posed these same questions to a number of other people who attended Principia, and who have, like me, left Christian Science. Those answers appear on The Ex-Christian Scientist*.

The Matthew Code and my experience with hypocrisy at Principia

“(15) If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. (16) But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ (17) If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or tax collector.”
(Matthew 18:15-17 – New International Version)

The Matthew Code, as the above quoted Bible verses have come to be known, was thrown at me and my fellow students at Principia College time and time again, and is a part of the moral code that Principia students are required to abide by.

Wolves In Sheep’s Clothing

I’ve got nothing against wolves, they’re a noble and much maligned animal. However, the figurative ‘wolves’ that are implied by the common saying that is the title of this post are anything but noble. They’re deceptive, they lie, and they lead unknowing people down a path they don’t intend to go down. That’s the subject of today’s post. Contrary to my usual routine, I’m not putting this one in the queue to go up on a Wednesday far in the future, as I think this is a wolf that fortunately may be on its way to obscurity. At least their main website seems to indicate such, as it appears to not be actively maintained. However, they do have a recently active crowdfunding campaign going right now (click here for that, but for the love of the gods, don’t donate, please)–they seem to be woefully short of their $10,000.00 goal ($135.00 so far). But then again, they may have just moved to a new site (here), so this gnat may not have met its windshield just yet. Please have a look at the links I’ve provided before you continue reading to spare me the need to give an extensive backgrounder on these folks.

A Word About Principia (Something I’ve Read)

This is undoubtedly the shortest blog post I’ve ever read, but it is eloquent in its simplicity, and I agree with the sentiment imparted herein.

I Couldn’t Have Said It Better Myself

I’ve written previously on Principia’s (now former) bigoted policy regarding admission of homosexual students or employment of homosexual individuals. I also posted the Principia Board of Trustees statement reversing this policy. I have my thoughts on the new policy, and was contemplating my own post on the subject, but my friend over at Kindism has said it better than I could have–they took the words right out of my mouth.

A Statement From the Principia Board of Trustees

I have written about the policies regarding same-sex relationships and LBGT issues at Principia previously (click here). After much deliberation, the Principia Board of Trustees has taken a small step in the right direction, inching out of the 19th century and thankfully removing a policy that was rooted in bigotry. Here is their statement and the Q & A they attached (click here to view it on their website):

Is Principia really the best college you can actually get into?

My Principia College friends on Facebook have been quite proud lately of the fact that their (and my) alma mater ranked very high on a recent ranking of United States colleges in Money magazine.

Guest Post: A Letter From a Principia College Grad

The following guest post was contributed by a regular reader. The author originally intended to write this as a letter to the editor, however the author wishes at this time to remain anonymous, so they chose to share their thoughts here instead.

I am writing because I take issue with Time ranking Principia College as the Number 1 college that the average B-student can get into. I find Principia’s ranking as a viable option to be incredibly misleading. On paper, Principia has a high acceptance rate and generous scholarship offers, however, you need to look at how many people are actually applying, and the demographic that Principia is catering to.

Nouveau Christian Science

There are a couple of Christian Science groups that have arisen in the St. Louis, Missouri and Chicago, Illinois areas. They are a form of what I call “Nouveau Christian Science”. As I see it, it’s an effort to make Christian Science more relevant to a modern and wider audience that doesn’t generally embrace the highly sleep-inducing traditional Christian Science church service, or the highly esoteric nature of Christian Science theology.