Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist)
Founded by Mary Baker Eddy (1879). Distinctive teaching that physical illness is illusion to be addressed through prayer rather than medicine. Several US child-death prosecutions of parents who withheld medical care.
CLCI radar
BITE breakdown
+1 for documented child deaths from refusal of medical care.
Profile facts
In context
Christian Science teaches that material reality and disease are illusions that yield to spiritual treatment by 'Christian Science practitioners'. Members historically avoid medical care, including for serious childhood illness. The Twitchell case (Massachusetts, 1990) and Cottam case (Minnesota, 1989) and other prosecutions established that religious-exemption laws do not always shield parents from manslaughter charges. Membership has declined sharply since its early-20th-century peak.
History
Mary Baker Eddy's 1875 'Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures' became the foundational text. The Christian Science Monitor (founded 1908) remains a respected journalism outlet independent of the Church.
Key control doctrines
- Material reality and disease as illusion
- Christian Science practitioners as primary 'treatment'
- 'Science and Health' as authoritative scripture-companion
Recovery resources
- Tears of Eden — Christian spiritual-abuse-survivor support and clinician referral.
- Recovering Grace — Originally IBLP-focused; archive includes broader fundamentalist Christian high-control material.
- Reclamation Collective — Religious-trauma-aware therapist network; relevant for post-exit identity-rebuilding.
- ICSA (International Cultic Studies Association) — General referral and cult-aware therapist directory.
- Freedom of Mind Resource Center — Steven Hassan's organisation; BITE-model resources and family-side exit guidance.
See the full curated list at /resources.
Notable public ex-members
- Caroline Fraser (author / Pulitzer winner)
- Lucia Greenhouse (memoirist)
Legal cases & controversies
- Commonwealth v. Twitchell (1993)
- Multiple state prosecutions of parents in child-death cases
- 1980s–1990s campaign for repeal of religious-exemption laws
Timeline
- 1875Mary Baker Eddy publishes 'Science and Health'
- 1879Church of Christ, Scientist organised in Boston
- 1908Christian Science Monitor founded
- 1990Twitchell conviction in Massachusetts
Sources
- Caroline Fraser, 'God's Perfect Child' (1999) search ↗
- Commonwealth v. Twitchell (1993) search ↗
- Various US state prosecutions search ↗
We cite sources by name and outlet rather than fabricating links. Where a source includes its own URL, the open ↗ link opens it directly; otherwise search ↗ runs a Google Scholar query for the cited title — useful for verifying academic sources. For news outlets, search the outlet's own archive.
Change history
Substantive edits logged per the score-updates policy.
- 2026-05-29Phase 1 Batch J corrective: Moderate-band (CLCI 19) entry upgraded from Mainstream-comparator lighter palette to Christian high-control palette — Batch J's clci<21 fallthrough was too lean for the documented control vector of this category.
- 2026-05-29Phase 1 Batch J: per-group recovery resources applied via programmatic palette (closest-fit by category + subCategory + score). Palette: Mainstream-comparator lighter.
- 2026-05-20Score band scheme migrated from 4 bands to 5 (Minimal 0–5 / Low 6–12 / Moderate 13–20 / High 21–30 / Extreme 31–40). No CLCI value changed; the new Minimal band was carved out of the bottom of the previous Low band.
Relevant hubs
Curated entry points on CLCI Hub for situations connected to this group.
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