Re-Blogged: Myths & Legends: The Fall on the Ice

A comment on the post I put up this morning prompted me to remember this piece. It goes a bit into some biography of Mary Baker Eddy. I haven’t gone into much here on this blog regarding any biographical examination of her, as I feel like that ground has been covered well by others and in other places. There is a lot of biography out there on Mary Baker Eddy, ranging from glowingly supportive (such as almost 100% of what the Christian Science Publishing Society publishes), relatively neutral, to critical. Other bloggers and websites have also covered this ground pretty well too. As an example, I’ll point you to this piece that was published on The Ex-Christian Scientist. It takes what I feel is a more objective look at the foundational myth for Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy’s infamous “Fall on the Ice” in Lynn, Massachusetts in 1866, than what you will find in most of the material published by the Christian Science church. Enjoy!

• The Ex-Christian Scientist: Myths & Legends: The Fall on the Ice (11 October 2015).

Uncomfortable Truths (a follow-up to “Where’s Mary?”)

My post “Where’s Mary?” from earlier this week has generated some interest from a fellow ex-Christian Scientist blogger (who re-blogged it on her blog) and some of her/his followers, although I don’t think the Christian Science apologist really read my post. In this post, I ask the rhetorical questions, “What are Christian Scientists afraid of?” and “Why are Christian Scientists in stealth mode?”. While I do sort of answer them in the post, here’s an in-your-face answer to that: a video by Liz Heywood, a survivor of religious-based child neglect. I’ve talked about her case many times in the past, how her Christian Scientist parents chose prayer over conventional medical treatment to treat a bone infection that left her permanently crippled, eventually necessitating amputation of the affected leg. Had her parents sought treatment, she could have been successfully treated with antibiotics, and the whole thing would have been an anecdotal memory of childhood.

Where’s Mary?

I have lurked on the Christian Way forum for a number of years, and have now posted twice as a guest commenter. I enjoy this forum and appreciate it as a gathering place and outlet for those of us I like to call “refugees from an obscure religion”, whether we be religious or not. A thread I recently posted my second ever comment on inspires today’s post (my comment is #22235–signed “Emerging Gently”). The topic of the thread touches on an interesting trend I’ve noticed recently with Christian Scientists’ interactions with media, specifically blogs, guest blogs, articles, etc.–most often from those who act as the spokespeople for Christian Scientists: Committees on Publication (I’ll call them COPs for short), but also other Christian Scientists as well.

A House of Cards

A blog I’ve recently discovered (well the blogger actually found me and I have begun to explore her blog), has piqued a latent interest of mine in regards to Christian Science. In the work that I do now, I frequently deal with people who suffer from various mental illnesses, and I’ve had some training in what is known as “mental health first aid”. This by no means make me an expert in any way on the subject of mental illness, but it does give me a frame of reference as I look back now on my past faith path.