Christian Science
I had walked past the “Christian Science Reading Room” a few times, but unfortunately it had always been closed so I hadn’t ever been able to stop by for a chat. On Friday, Jacob and I went on a grand tour of Perth’s religious institutions in search of enlightenment… Okay, fine, entertainment.
Given that many people, including Mark Twain, have torn this religion to shreds over the past century or so, I don’t want to flog the dead horse too much, so I’ll focus instead on the abundance of differences and one similarity between Christian Science and science.
A lady by the name of Anita introduced herself to Jacob and I when we arrived, and invited us to take a seat and have a chat. Anita’s first statement was that “I just need to make it very clear that we’re not Scientologists.” (Did they see me coming or something?) I responded “If I thought you were, I’d be outside with a picket sign and not inside talking to you”, which she seemed thankful for.
Anita then asked me what had brought me to the Christian Science Church today, and I said it was mainly the seemingly contradictory terms in the name. Initially Anita thought we were Christians and said “I think you guys are into the Bible, am I right?” to which I responded “sure, I think it was one of the greatest works of fiction ever written”.
Anita began to tell me about the healing goes on within the Church, facilitated by Christian Science practitioners. She told us that she wasn’t keen to use words like ‘miracles’ as they believe that healing as a result of prayer and prayer alone is a natural. I pointed out that a huge number of faiths claim to have great abilities to heal real medical conditions through prayer (doing nothing), so what made the Christian Science Church’s claims more credible?
I was sincerely hoping this is where the science element would come in. Some scientific data which would give support to their claim that the effect of prayer (which I would claim is merely a placebo) is demonstrably greater than a placebo effect. Of course, this was way too much to hope for.
Anita explained that these healings aren’t things which can be objectively tested or quantified, they can be only experienced. According to Anita, unfortunately our language is too restrictive to actually allow us to adequately describe these experiences and the scientific method is too restrictive to actually allow them to be demonstrated scientifically.
I asked how they can possibly think it is appropriate, and not altogether misleading, to call themselves Christian Scientists when they don’t utilise the scientific method. Just to add insult to injury, I pointed out the obvious similarity to the Church of Scientology in which they have a name which seems to give their claims some undeserved Scientific credibility.
Anita said that the Church has it’s own methodology for healing, but they’re not prescriptive. Healing through prayer is based not on a formula, but on personal experience and a relationship with God. In other words, untestable and unscientific.
If it had any scientific merit, it wouldn’t be called Christian Science, it would just be called science. In much the same was as if alternative medicine had any value, it would just be called medicine.
Anita was keen to move on from this topic, and said “it’s obvious too that there is design in nature, because I simply can’t comprehend how all of this could just come about.” I did point out that this was an argument from personal incredulity and a logical fallacy and that it’s possible to offer explanations using only natural processes to account for this apparent design that she observes.
So we’d actually got to a stage in the conversation where I was getting some honest, candid answers. I asked “So is Christian Science a subset of science?” “No”, she responded.
Anita wished us both the best, gave us a copy of Mary Baker Eddy’s “Science and Health”, and said we were welcome to come back for another discussion any time. I may well take her up on that.
On reflection, the only thing that Christian Science and science have in common is the word science, and even then, as Jacob pointed out, the Church has simply redefined science to mean whatever they want it to mean.
<3 swan
Here’s what I would regard as a really interesting comment by a user called STUN_runner on reddit in response to this blog post:
I was raised in the Christian Science church, and always bristled at the criticism heaped on it. These days, of course, I feel obliged to join in with the chorus of boos for a church whose members knowingly withhold vital life-saving medical treatment from their kids based on the writings of a 19th-century charlatan and plagiarist named Mary Baker Eddy.
And here I feel like I have some insight into what makes religion so difficult to shake people out of. I know that Mary Baker Eddy was full of shit. I’m sure of it. Her writings are nonsense, and, even now, decades after I turned my back on that religion for good, I feel a pang of guilt denouncing her and her church. My first impulse is, even as an atheist, to leap to her defense. I imagine that Mormons must feel the same impulse regarding Joseph Smith, and that many Protestants feel that way about John Calvin.
The whole thing, to me, gives wings to Dawkins’ assertion that raising children in a religion constitutes child abuse. To point to a portrait of some charlatan hanging on the wall and tell an impressionable child over and over again that they need to have special reverence for that person is to indelibly stain that child’s consciousness for life. I know it has stained mine.
Sure, prayer only has a placebo effect, but how is that in any way a bad thing? A placebo effect is still a positive result (ie. better than “doing nothing”)
Is it really better to do something than nothing when that something requires a basis of ignorance or it doesn’t work?
Well, at least she was fairly polite in answering your questions (or seems to have been). If I’m going to get into a debate with a Christian, I much prefer a nice one.
you should have been there a few weeks back, jacob went into the scientology building and harassed the receptionist, asking ow much money he had “donated”, and wondering if there were aliens inside him. funniest shit ever.