Hope. Courage. Resilience. Forgiveness. These words mean more, not less, against a backdrop of war, suffering and violence. The June 6 annual meeting of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts highlighted this message. Church members gathered in-person and online, including congregations from [insert local information], to affirm the promise to be found in these enduring qualities of grace. When lived, these qualities show “how Christ is transforming human experience,” explained this year’s chair of the church’s five-member Board of Directors, Keith Wommack. The meeting ..read more

Dear Editor It was good to read in the article (Ice to See You) about Val Kilmer’s return to the big screen in the film Top Gun 2.  He’s long been a favourite actor to watch and your article certainly captures his remarkable focus, determination and bravery as an actor. However, I might note that your brief comment regarding his faith, Christian Science, may mislead readers. Christian Scientists believe in a God that embraces the universe including humanity in divine goodness and love. This does not mean, however, that its followers casually deny the existence of disease nor believe negat ..read more

Dear Editor It was good to read in the article (Ice to See You) about Val Kilmer’s return to the big screen in the film Top Gun 2.  He’s long been a favourite actor to watch and your article certainly captures his remarkable focus, determination and bravery as an actor. However, I might note that your brief comment regarding his faith, Christian Science, may mislead readers. Christian Scientists believe in a God that embraces the universe including humanity in divine goodness and love. This does not mean, however, that its followers casually deny the existence of disease nor believe negat ..read more

Just before Christmas a blog titled ‘The Greatest Gift’ was posted on two UK Roman Catholic websites.  It stated that some religions shun present giving at Christmas time, citing Christian Science as an example of this and claiming that this was Mary Baker Eddy’s position, making her un-Christian. The following response was completed in a few hours and posted in its entirety the following day, in time for it to be read before Christmas:   “Thank you for the wonderful work of the Irish Chaplaincy UK. As a Christian Scientist, I agree with you that the words from the Messiah “Fo ..read more

Dear Sir, I was interested to read Jason Wilson’s recent Opinion piece “Anti-vaxxers and Covid conspiracists may seem wackier – but pandemic protest isn’t new” drawing parallels between the current pandemic protesters and similar historical movements including those in the 1920s. However it is misleading to link Christian Scientists to them. For more than a century the Christian Science church has counseled respect for public health authorities and conscientious obedience to the laws of the land, including those requiring vaccination.  An example of this is during the Spanish flu epidemi ..read more

On Monday, June 7, church members from all over the United Kingdom watched the annual meeting of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, as it was live-streamed from the Church’s headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. The meeting brought together members from some 60 countries worldwide to consider how God’s grace forwards progress in individual lives and collective church experience. The members of the Barnstaple Christian Science Society were among the many UK congregations who watched the meeting. In a year when many have thought more deeply about ideas of faith, this uplifting report ..read more

This was an unpublished letter to the editor of The Daily Mirror in response to a piece done on Ellen DeGeneres. Dear Editor, While Ellen DeGeneres decided to move away from her Christian Science upbringing when she reached adulthood, she occasionally spoke on her show about her father when he died at the age of 92 and his lifelong faith. She once shared, “He was a Christian Scientist his whole life. He never had medicine in his life. He never went to a doctor.”  In your May 13 story about DeGeneres, your brief reference to the Christian Science faith and its attitude to the medical prof ..read more

Do you have questions about the approach to vaccinations in Christian Science? Here are some answers for you. If you have more questions, feel free to comment and we will make sure to update this page with appropriate responses. 1. Does the Christian Science Church have a policy about vaccinations?  It does not have a specific policy. Within the boundaries of the law and official guidelines, individual Christian Scientists make their own decisions about health matters. Nevertheless, as Christians who place a high value on the Golden Rule, Christian Scientists are mindful of public health ..read more

A Letter to the Editor of the Church Times From Mrs Robin Harragin Hussey Sir, — I cannot think of a faith more opposed to the “Positive Thinking” that Canon Angela Tilby writes about (Comment, 16 October, published in the13 November edition) than Christian Science (yet she implies that Christian Science is one of the sources for the religious positivism espoused by Norman Vincent Peale and his church, which Donald Trump attended as a young man. This connection is unfounded. Christian Science did indeed emerge in America at the same time as what came to be called the New Thought movement, fro ..read more

We are delighted to post a LONG READ by Robin Harragin Hussey on a much overlooked but fundamental influence on the life of Nancy Astor – her adherence to Christian Science . Any collection on Astor would be incomplete without an exploration of her faith.Robin studied Religious Studies at Sussex University and gained a Masters and PGCE from Kings College, London. A lifelong Christian Scientist, she has worked to present religion to her students and in a wider arena as a medium through which change for good and healing can be effected.  Most recently she was appointed Christian Scienc ..read more