Thanksgiving 2025

The Thanksgiving Day service is the only ‘special’ service the Christian Science church offers. The readings from the desk include the Presidential proclamation for Thanksgiving, as well as a few passages from The Bible and Science and Health. The service is then opened to the congregation for them to share ‘testimonies of healing and sharing of experiences in Christian Science.’

The following are testimonies from Ex-Christian Scientists, as they give thanks for having left Christian Science. Thank you all for your contributions!

We at The Ex-Christian Scientist offer no readings, or lengthy proclamations, merely our sincerest thanks for everyone who has contributed to our efforts. We do not advocate any one particular path but acknowledge that there are many legitimate pathways that can be personally and spiritually fulfilling.

All Thanksgiving posts are tagged Thanksgiving. Comments are moderated and closed automatically after 30 days.

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Since not only leaving CS but also needing medical interventions, I am very grateful that I have a friend who is also a doctor that helps me seek medical treatment, understand what to expect, and gives me confidence when dealing with new medications or treatments because it all still feels overwhelming and probably always will to some extent. He’s like an automatic second (or first) opinion that I’ve come to trust and respect as a person and a friend before a doctor so when he supports (or suggests a possible) diagnosis or recommended treatment, I can just go with it much more easily. Its also easier to quiet the ever-present voice that tells me to ignore, deny, refuse the problem.

May we all continue to learn that’s its ok, it’s good, to pay attention to our bodies, sensations, feelings etc and take care of them with real treatment <3

-Kristine

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I’m thankful that MBE wasn’t born in the 50s, because that bitch would still be alive today!

-Melis

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I’m thankful I left Christian Science, and that some of my relatives are finally starting to do the same. And I’m thankful for cult recovery programs, support groups and trauma therapy, which help me to deconstruct from coercive control and build an independent identity and worldview for the first time in my life. I’m also thankful for doctors, nurses, medicines, treatments and vaccines that are slowly helping me address my decades of medical neglect under Christian Science. I’m additionally thankful to have encountered folks who are working to overturn some of the religious exemptions in state laws that allow parents to medically neglect and abuse their children in the name of religion (i.e. “faith healing”), and hope that in the coming year(s) my personal story can help undo the exemptions that made my neglect and abuse possible. Christian Science is nothing but a con – ditto the holiday of Thanksgiving (#LandBack) – and I’m thankful that I don’t have to believe in either one of them anymore.

-E. Gast

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I am thankful that I am now able to address issues head-on instead of talking around them, downplaying, ignoring, or otherwise not acknowledging them. I am thankful for real community, the kind that offers real support, and not empty platitudes. I am thankful I can reach out to people who will offer help, and not tell me that I should “correct my thinking.”

I am thankful for evidence based medicine, that is capable of learning and evolving.

I am thankful that I am doing the work, and that I am capable of breaking the cycles of generational trauma and medical neglect. I’m not going to get it right all the time, but I am trying, and it has to start somewhere.

I am thankful for the ExCS community, and the option to send in a “testimony” rather than sit in a stuffy church. I hope everyone has a happy Thursday.

-K.T.

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This marks our 10th Thanksgiving post. The ExCS Team is thankful for everyone who has contributed to our community over the years.