The Scientology/Christian Science mix-up will live forever, but here’s a new look at it
Over the years, we can’t count how many times we’ve been asked questions about “Christian Science” by people mistaking it for “Church of Scientology.” And if we hear it, imagine how often Scientology has to deal with it! So we were grateful when longtime reader Graham sent us this interesting look at Christian Science in his hometown of Oxford.
Mary Baker Eddy was one of the founders of the ‘positive thinking’ New Thought movement back in the 1860s, and famously founded the Church of Christ, Scientist; also known as Christian Science. A hundred years later and L. Ron Hubbard was re-packaging the same “power of thought over the material world” messages as part of the canon of his own similarly named Church of Scientology.
Living just outside Oxford, and having worked for the University in the past, it continues to irk me that Hubbard used Oxford’s name for his fake ‘personality test,’ the so-called Oxford Capacity Analysis; stolen academic valour as it were. And it intrigues me that Christian Science has long had a quiet presence here in the city while Scientology is nowhere to be seen.
Oxford’s Christian Science Reading Room occupies some prime real estate on St. Giles, a wide avenue leading in to the city centre. Just a few doors up from Tolkien’s favourite pub, the Eagle and Child, the Reading Room’s stainless steel gates allow an intriguing glimpse of a well tended courtyard and beautiful buildings but are always closed when I happen to walk past. According to their web-site the gates are open once a week for Reading Room visitors. For a very modest two hours.
So I dig a little deeper. To my surprise I find there are far more Christian Science churches in England than I had realised. Admittedly, having a presence in only 65 locations is a very modest result, but it’s about ten times more than Scientology has managed. How could it be that Hubbard’s re-branding of New Thought as “The Modern Science of Mental Health” should have failed while a Victorian precursor plods quietly on?
So, time to get out the Bus Pass and take the Park and Ride bus in to town. Eleven o’clock Friday and yes, the gates are open! There’s even a colourful message of welcome chalked neatly onto the pavement outside. I find the Reading Room staffed by a welcoming older Afro-Caribbean lady. Welcoming in a quiet, warm self-confident way. None of the strenuous Scientological ‘tone 40’ here.
I explain to her that what interests me is the history of Christian Science in Oxford and the architecture of these beautiful buildings. She explains that the original building was burned down in an act of arson some time ago. She knows little more, so my curiosity remains unsatisfied. Where did the money come from to fund such a quietly impressive (and award-winning) courtyard, church and reading room? Who are the church elders? What has been passed down the generations? I’d love to know but feel I may already be asking too many questions.
She gently observes that I seem to like statistics. I reply that if it was good enough for Florence Nightingale… She had not realised that Nightingale had been a famous statistician as well as a nurse. She tells me her own mother had been a nurse, and later re-trained as a Christian Science nurse. She asks me questions, but is always very respectful. Asks permission before venturing into a new area of conversation, and is fine when I sometimes decline to go there. We talk a little about Christian Science and she agrees when I say it seems to be quite similar to the Quakers (whose Meeting House is just a few doors down).
I like this lady. She has the quiet confidence of someone who feels comfortable within themselves. When I ask, she tells me she’s gone back to university and is doing a PhD concerning something from local history. Her children attend the church. I got the impression that some were more committed than others but there was no hint that deserting the church would be met with anything other than sadness.
She asked my permission to find her favourite biblical quote from the Bible in front of her. I’m afraid I can’t recall the wording but I can readily agree with the philosophy behind it: basically, when faced with negativity turn it round and find the positive. She didn’t want me to leave with nothing so I chose a (free!) copy of Christian Science Monitor before thanking her and ending my visit by stepping into the courtyard to take a couple of pictures.
So I left with many questions unanswered, but at least I know now why Christian Science plods quietly on while Scientology is almost nowhere to be seen. If you believe that you can change the world around you by the power of your thoughts, it works much better if your thoughts are positive and loving. Seeing the best in people works better than berating them and finding them wanting. When ego, status and money enter the equation, that’s when things take a turn towards the dark side. That’s when things fall apart.
— Graham
And just for completeness, here is what the Mary Baker Eddy website has to say about Scientology…
We are sometimes asked if Christian Science has any historical relationship with Scientology. Do they have a shared history?
Many times the press and social media confuse these two religions, primarily because of similarities in their names. However, our research does not show any historical connection between them, nor any commonality in basis or theology.
According to scientology.org, “The written and recorded spoken words of L. Ron Hubbard [1911–1986] on the subject of Scientology collectively constitute the scripture of the religion.”
On the other hand, Christian Scientists see their religion as based on the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. The teachings of Jesus Christ are central to their beliefs and practices.
Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910) discovered Christian Science in 1866. Her primary work, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, contains what she termed “the complete statement of Christian Science.”
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Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history
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Ask any kid forced to spend time at “the org” (yes, they use that word too) instead of playing with friends on a nice weekend how fun growing up with strict CS parents was. There is also a lot of magical-thinking and medical quackery in Christian Science. My mother’s best friend and her sons all suffered unnecessarily at the end of their lives by choosing to eschew real medicine for “spiritual” cures.
That said, I did manage to crank out a whole parody novel, a sort of LRH-style, ripping yarn, thanks to an essay I wrote wondering what would happen if MBE met LRH in Target 2. Surprisingly, putting a lifetime of obsession with this cult into a work of fiction really helped scratch an itch that had started with being fair gamed when I was 19.
Statistics? Florence Nightingale?!?
Foo - everyone in the criminal organisation known as the "church" of $cientology know that El Rhum Flubbard said the first and the last words on Statistics.