Has anyone left the Christian Science religion?

[Wanttothrive]

Many of my relatives are CS. In doing a bit of study, I've found several sites that say CS is cult-like, in that people do not speak up when someone does something harmful. That person 'has just not been enlightened yet', so abuse can and often does thrive. Has anyone here had any experience with this? Thank you.

[Blueberry]

I know someone who left after growing up in a CS family.

[Wanttothrive]

Thank you. My abuser was married to someone who left CS but never received counseling. The abuser could abuse without fear of repercussion, as the former CS member would glaze over and allow it. It has always been terribly confusing. I'm wondering, do you know anything about CS or why your friend left it?

[Blueberry]

I just know what my friend told me about CS. Things like not going to most doctors but praying instead. Like her mother had broken her leg and sat contorted with agony praying and refusing to go to a doc. Some exceptions were made e.g. I think giving birth in a hospital was permitted, and wearing glasses was OK too. But generally no doctors, pray instead. This is the aspect that sticks out most in my mind. It's a long time ago that my friend talked about it, about 20 years ago. I don't want to bring it up with her again.

My friend left CS after leaving home, going to university, meeting other people and thinking about it all. 

[Quiet]

Sorry this is an old thread but I had to weigh in.  I was raised Christian Science.  I feel that this is one of my sources of chronically low self esteem.

Let me explain my own experience.  I had severe asthma, from birth.  Survival necessitates medication.  But in this religion, medication is ungodly.  Healing comes from God.  If you have enough faith, God will heal you.

This is not good for someone with a life-threatening disease.  Either you die (which I did not) or you take medication, and get the message from the church that you are at fault for your own illness because you didn't pray enough, love God enough, and trust God enough.  Or, in today's language, you weren't enough.

Also, if God can't love me, how can anyone else?

[Three Roses]

 

[Blueberry]

Quiet, it's fine to post on old threads! I did that a lot when I first joined too. There's plenty of valuable information on the old threads and if something strikes you, by all means comment!

Unfortunately for you due to first-hand experience, you were able to put in better words what I was trying to remember my friend saying about her CS upbringing and experiences.  to you

[Erebor]

Hello, (first post here so am a bit nervous) I haven't left CS, but I was brought up in something that appears to have drawn a lot of inspiration from it.

Either you die (which I did not) or you take medication, and get the message from the church that you are at fault for your own illness because you didn't pray enough, love God enough, and trust God enough.  Or, in today's language, you weren't enough.

What I and my good family members experienced was quite like that, sadly.   But they did it a lot with mental health as well as physical. I'm glad you got through and survived such a cruel situation.

For the purposes of research, I highly recommend the book 'The Church of Fear: Inside the Weird World of Scientology'. It was written by a BBC journalist who worked on a Panorama documentary about CS, only to end up on the receiving end of the unpleasant and intimidating tactics the CS use against anyone they feel threatened by (so practically anyone who tries to leave them or ask them questions). He spoke to a lot of ex-members about their experiences and had multiple weird run-ins with the leader of the whole thing.

Edited to add links to a couple of interesting articles, this one is about the book: https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/4061/book-review-the-church-of-fear-inside-the-weird-world-of-scientology

And this one is a good review of a new documentary about the church: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/apr/28/going-clear-the-film-scientologists-dont-want-you-to-see