Category
First Hand Experiences
Former Christian Scientists tell their own stories of believing, questioning, and leaving.
Why I'm doing this
Elizabeth, the site’s content editor, recounts a grandfather’s death and another’s disabling stroke, both under Christian Science, and hopes to help someone now.
Katie J.'s Story (Part 1)
Katie J. describes being born at home without a doctor, her fear of doctors, and growing up at Principia, where she was taught to ignore physical symptoms. Part 1 of her story.
The Church of the Pancake & other paths away from Christian Science
Former Christian Scientists describe their religious choices after leaving: a secular Sunday Assembly, the Episcopal church, no church at all, and a Sunday pancake breakfast.
I decided it was a totally toxic, dangerous mindset
Jenny describes doubting Christian Science after Jenny’s mother died of untreated cancer, then rejecting it after struggling to get Jenny’s husband medical care.
If people were doing something different I internally judged them
An anonymous third-generation Christian Scientist describes judgmental thinking it taught, regret over raising children in it, and feeling free only after the writer’s mother died.
I can just sit here and think it all better
Heidi, a former Christian Scientist, writes about an untreated infection, procrastination that feels like waiting for a healing, and deciding to see doctors.
A Reflection of Perfection
A fourth-generation Christian Scientist describes lasting childhood guilt, how an inhaler for adult-onset asthma led to leaving, and how a good therapist helped.
I'm a recovering Christian Scientist: Lilly's Thoughts
Lilly, a pseudonym, describes the guilt, shame, and anxiety left by Christian Science and wanting their own children to feel safe voicing fear or pain.
Reshaping My Distorted Image of Doctors
A former Christian Scientist recalls first seeing a doctor at fourteen with a sister, after their mother’s untreated breast cancer, and the habit of coping alone.
I Had Prostate Cancer
An anonymous former Christian Scientist describes how a son’s insistence led to a prostate cancer diagnosis and the radiation treatment that cleared it.