This post was inspired by a conversation (or two) with the writer of Emerging Gently, who also has an excellent post about How to Leave Christian Science.
This is a question that was posted in a “Time 4 Thinkers” forum, the cool, hip face of the Mother Church aimed at teens and young adults.
how do i leave christian science behind? i can’t seem to find comfort in christian science anymore. it is so shallow and so ignorant. has anyone ever been there, and where did you go: leave christian science or somehow get back to it?
Nearly everyone who replied had at one time or another “had doubts” about Christian Science, but they’d prayed hard and come to the conclusion it was right. Most of the commenters could be easily summed up by the following:
When I’ve had big questions with Christian Science, when I really dig in and seek answers, I find them. That doesn’t mean it’s easy though. There have been things I’ve wondered about, thought about, even agonized over, you could say, trying to come to an understanding. But inevitably, I’ve been led to the exact answer I needed to hear to find comfort, peace, understanding, whatever it happened to be that I was looking for at the time. Sometimes answers come quickly, while others I’ve gone over and over for months at a time before reaching a satisfactory conclusion. Not just giving up is the key though.
The original questioner mentioned several serious family health problems that Christian Science was failing to heal and is then pointed to Ms. Eddy’s quote about the “right use of temporary means.”
The “I left but I came back” answers resonated with me, I’d done the left-but-came-back thing once or twice, only it wasn’t so much “left” as it was “had serious doubts/questions/crises of faith.” I plowed through them: mild eating disorder, suicidal thoughts, death of a friend, health issues and all.
At the end of the day I keep coming back to the fact I can NOT raise my children with Christian Science, not the way I understand it, not the way it is practiced, not the way we have come so far since Ms. Eddy founded it. God or no God, Christian Science is not good for me, or my family, or my long term physical and mental well being. There are so many solutions out there that don’t involve “praying to know the truth” and “praying to see all things as harmonious” when things are CLEARLY NOT RIGHT.
You can still believe in an all-loving God and NOT be a Christian Scientist. You can still pray for guidance and NOT be a Christian Scientist. You can even attend a Christian Science church and NOT be a Christian Scientist.
Leaving Christian Science means you are leaving a harmful system of thought which perpetuates the false idea that radical reliance on prayer above all else solves all problems. Leaving Christian Science means you can seek practical treatment for problems – you do not have to pray to know the truth, or deny the reality of the situation at hand. It is okay to acknowledge that you need more help than prayer alone can provide, this is NOT something to be ashamed of.
Leaving Christian Science isn’t easy, navigating the world of healthcare can be daunting, but please know you are NOT ALONE.
Former Christian Science Resources & Support
- ExCS UK
- Christian Way – impressive resource list
- Ananias.org Pilgrims from the Cross of Christ from Christian Science
- The Christian Science Site of the Aequus Institute
Social Media Support / Facebook
- Christian Science Exit
- Christian Way
- Former CS*
- Ex-CS*
*Please e-mail me at kat.at.kindism.com if you want more information, or are interested in joining and I can put you in touch with the group admins.
Blogs by former Christian Scientists
- Emerging Gently
- One-Leg Liz – This ex-Christian Scientist survived untreated osteomyelitis in childhood, trained horses, and became an above-knee amputee philosopher
- MT_Space (label: Christian Science), by Mario Tosto, a former CSP, Teacher and Lecturer
- Understanding Mortal Mind by MKHuggins
kind-ism 
I am going to try to reply in a short post here. Good luck to myself.
I deeply believe that unconsciously a Christian Scientist today has a hard time relating to scientific and medical progress. It’s inventions and discoveries which are pretty much upsetting them. Again, the student isn’t aware of this upset because it is occurring unconsciously.
The irony has been that Christian Science does provide ways to relate to medical and scientific progress. Yet, because of strong religious convictions and absolutist thinking and practices, these changes of scientific perspective have been avoided. So it makes for an uncomfortable psychological non conformist situation for a student of Christian Scientist who used to gain inspiration from studying Christian Science but now feels he lives on an island that the world is zooming by.
In short, the religion aspect is not in balance with the Science aspect which would protect the religious aspect from overboard absolutism for the living patterns for a human being.