In my former church of Religious Science we had a lot of ex Christian Scientists who generally left C.S. because of the C.S. position on medicine. Christian Scientists do not believe in medical intervention for themselves or their children. Prayer is supposed to heal. This is one of the reasons Christian Scientists are so practiced at litigation. They’ll go to court to prevent their children receiving medical care.
Also, Mary Baker Eddy claimed that her book, Science & Health, was the product of divine revelation, but the actual fact is that she cribbed most of it from faith healer P. P. Quimby. The other churches strongly influenced by Quimby – Religious Science, Unity & Divine Science – all acknowledge their debt to Quimby. Christian Science does not. Christian Science is also the only oen of the four that rejects medicine as unGodly. There are other differences too, of course, but this is the most important one.
That said, if I had children I would prefer a Christian Scientist teacher to a fundamentalist Christian one. They generally do not proselytize their faith and I don’t find their practices and communications to be underhanded, deceptive and full of ulterior motive.
Jenn
