By the numbers

Misty morning on the Christian Science Plaza, Boston, Massachusetts. Image credit: Emerging Gently.

There can be little doubt, even among Christian Scientists, that the Christian Science church is in decline, and has been for many decades. According to the Wikipedia entry on “Church of Christ, Scientist” (that is the official name of the Christian Science church), the number of branch churches in the United States, the country where Christian Science originated, has been in steady decline since the end of World War II. That’s 78 years out of the 157 since Dear Leader Mary Baker Eddy took a tumble on the ice in Lynn, Massachusetts, folks.

Is Christian Science a cult?

CULT –

1. a particular system of religious worship, especially with reference to its rites and ceremonies.
2. an instance of great veneration of a person, ideal, or thing, especially as manifested by a body of admirers…
   (Dictionary.com)

What’s the word for…?

Self-cannibalism is the practice of eating oneself, also called autocannibalism, or autosarcophagy.
(Wikipedia)

I recently heard about a Christian Science branch church that received a large bequest from a recently deceased member. Back in the day, when I was on the Board of Directors at my own branch church, we also received a bequest from a deceased member. The tiny Christian Science Society in the community where I live now is mainly sustained by a large amount of money they have in savings that’s been built up over the years by, you guessed it, bequests. Do you see a pattern?

Recycling…

This was posted in an on-line group I’m in, and I thought it was funny. All over the world, old Christian Science churches are being re-purposed as this moribund religion shrinks away to its “native nothingness” (to use a well-known phrase from Mary Baker Eddy). Some have become condominiums, many have found new life as theatres, and others have become homes to congregants of different religions.

A very nice image

This image, a ‘fan art’ piece for the on-line game Fallout 4 was recently posted in an on-line group I’m in. While the artist’s caption labels it as the former site of MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), it actually depicts the post-apocalyptic ruins of the Christian Science Center in Boston, Massachusetts (the headquarters of the Christian Science Church). MIT is actually located across the Charles River from Boston in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The game Fallout 4 is set in post-apocalyptic Boston/New England, in an alternate reality from our own, approximately 218 years in the future. It is part of the Fallout on-line game series.

LGBTQ+ sexuality and Christian Science

Once upon a time, I swore to myself, and in e-mail witness with my friend and fellow ex-Christian Scientist blogger at Kindism, that I was not going to wade into the extra weird world of sexuality and Christian Science. I’ve been quite happy to leave this odd topic in her capable hands–I’ll put in a plug to check out her blog posts on the topic. Well, I’m going to break that vow–just a little bit. My post today deals with a hot-button (for some) issue: those who are lesbian/bi-sexual/gay/transgender/queer (LGBTQ+) and are sometimes generically and incorrectly lumped together under the term, homosexual. Bisexual people are not homosexual, by the way. Homosexuality refers specifically to those who are attracted to those of the same gender as themselves.

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.

Strength in [Lack of] Numbers

“You may know when first Truth leads by the fewness and faithfulness of its followers.”
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 225)

This statement is often held up by Christian Scientists as a banner of proof that Christian Science (a.k.a. Truth*) is as strong and relevant as ever, and as a denial of the reality of its very precipitous decline since about the mid 20th century.

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. 

Misplaced Loyalty (Warning: a bit of profanity ahead)

Image credit: Intelligence is sexy (Facebook page).

How many of us have stuck too long with something because we thought, or were told and we believed, that it was the right thing? How long misplaced loyalty can draw on. In my case, with Christian Science, it dragged on for 40 years. I’m not sure if I necessarily became a slave to my beliefs (I always had my questions and doubts), but it certainly was a dysfunctional relationship of the worst kind.