Tuesday 3 May 2011

Christian Science.

For week 8's blog post, I've chosen to look at the religious group of Christian Science. Looking at the name of the denomination, it sounds very much like a contradiction. I'm trying to find out how this Christian Science religion defines America's identity in terms of faith. The website that I looked at can be found here.

So looking at their website, there is a section describing what Christian Science is. They believe that God, is all encompassing, and that each individual is loved, cared and made in his own image. By image they mean spiritual, rather than material. They believe that healing that Jesus did, was the work of scientific Christianity. It does say that scientific Christianity and its applications of God, are laws which are practical and provable even today by anyone, anywhere apparently. Those practising the faith, also believe Jesus' sermon on the Mount, and the ten commandments are central to their beliefs. Most importantly though, is that Christian Science members believe in the healing and saving power of God. They believe that salvation isn't in the near future, but now, as the presence of God's goodness can be experienced by everyone now!

Christian Science seems to be pretty big. For example on their website they have links to a few different Christian Science publications, such as The Christian Science Journal, Christian Science Sentinel, The Herald of Christian Science and The Christian Science Monitor. This just shows that its target is not just a small minority, and that they are getting their message across, not only on the internet, but also in a physical format where it can be published across the country. Not only do they have publications, but they also seem to have a podcast, where they talk about the powers of healing or current topics and how they can help via prayer. An example of this is the Texas drought and wildfires, a podcast explaining how prayer can help. This is giving an identity to the Christian Science members, who are effected by what happens in their country, they try to help with the way they only know and believe, which is to pray.

Under the healing tab, there are loads of articles on which Christian Science members do throughout the country. There are featured topics on Christian Science nurses, teachers and practitioners. There is also a article on the BP oil Spill and about praying for it to get better. It seems that Christian Science, isn't what I thought it would be. I had the idea that it was explaining contemporary science, but with Christian ideas behind it. Yet it isn't that, it is the science of the praying for people, for the healing power of God. The Christian Science community, I guess, is based in Boston. With this I feel that only in America would you find this certain denomination of Christianity. They will obviously have similar beliefs to other denominations, yet they seem to be more practical on the science side of things, where they mostly believe in the healing power and spirit of God.

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