 Posted Thursday, January 21, 2010 11:19 AM
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I am curious, how would a CS "explain" or "view" what has happened in Haiti?
What would a CS suggest we do to help the homeless, seriously wounded there?
When we watch the news and see doctors performing surgery to amputate a leg with gangrene in order to save a life, what would a CS suggest should be done instead?
What organizations (if any) would a practicing CS donate to for Haitian relief efforts?
What types of support would a CS suggest our country should and shout not provide?
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Posted Thursday, January 21, 2010 12:29 PM
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Anonymous January 21, 2010 @ 1:19:36 PM,
I am curious, how would a CS "explain" or "view" what has happened in Haiti?
A starting point for satisfying your curiosity would be to check out the Christian Science Monitor.
As of this moment, the Monitor's Haiti headline tells about the 82nd Airborne setting up headquarters on a golf course. Foxnews mentions the swelling mass graves. CNN poses the question about whether it is ethical to vacation in Haiti. MSNBC indicates "disaster do-gooders can hinder more than they help". ABC tells us amputations are down and infections up. CBS News wants us to meet the 16 contestants in "The Amazing Race". Haiti is "below the fold" of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, with which the Monitor was once counted as the "elite media".
Do Go Be Man
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Posted Thursday, January 21, 2010 12:40 PM
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"What organizations (if any) would a practicing CS donate to for Haitian relief efforts?"
i checked csmonitor.com and saw information on making donations to the
American Red Cross
CARE
Concern Worldwide
Direct Relief International
Mercy Corps
Oxfam America
World Vision
You can also find other information on csmonitor.com as well as christianscience.com
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Posted Thursday, January 21, 2010 5:05 PM
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"What would a CS suggest we do to help the homeless, seriously wounded there?
When we watch the news and see doctors performing surgery to amputate a leg with gangrene in order to save a life, what would a CS suggest should be done instead?"
Anonymous, you raise a very interesting point.
When I attended CS Wednesday night testimonial services as a youngster, I recall several times when someone would relate a story about how a practioner would be summoned to a home of a non scientist who was in dire straights with one thing or another. I recall specifically that in these instances, medical treatment had failed, the doctor said nothing more could be done, etc. In these cases, the sick person was given a brief summary of what CS is, and if the person would accept the correct view of man (spiritual not temporal), they could be healed. In short, they did and they were healed, according to the testimony.
Yes, TMC, the Monitor, etc. are apparently encouraging folks to make donations to organizations that will provide in the end medical help (hypocrisy, yes, but good PR). I even see where they have posted on their website an article on what CS prayer could do for Haiti.
A good question to ask. Why doesn't the Mother Church recruit and send (e.g.) 25 practitioners to Haiti to assist in meeting the crushing medical needs there (and then issue a press release saying they have done it)? Words are cheap-why doesn't The Mother Church actually try and prove in a significant way what CS prayer can really do for Haiti?
After all, don't folks go to practitioners in lieu of seeking medical help from physicians? If the testimonies I heard were indeed true about non-CSer's being healed in short order, shouldn't an influx of practitioners be able to make a difference in Haiti right now?
Of course, Christian Science is a complex theology, we all know, requiring intellectual understanding to "work". This should reason enough, you could say, why TMC should be off the hook.
But, undoubtedly thousands of Haitians who are in dire need of medical help are literate and even speak English. Also, I was always told that CS was superior to medical treatment, and could heal where medicine couldn't. Doesn't the situation in Haiti offer the perfect place to demonstrate this here and now?
But, we all know TMC will never send any practitioners. To do so would result mean public demonstration and accountability of Mrs. Eddy claims. Calls by practitioners on the faithful are one thing; being called to bring about mass or even individual "healings" that would be subjected after the fact to scrutiny and verification (or the lack thereof) in a highly visible setting like Haiti are another. They would fail and be seen to fail and they know it. Then, to add insult to injury, they would find themselves having to tell a diseased or injured Haitian (or their parents!!!) that it was their fault and not the fault of the practitioner that the healing didn't occur (particularly if others with the same conditions are obviously and publicly being successfully treated by physicians as would definitely be the case ).
In short, The Mother Church and no practitioner alive would ever have the guts to test the truth of their teachings in such a public and large scale way. ("Oh ye of little faith"!!!)
I would be willing to bet that every other religious faith right now sees Haiti (or similar tumults) as an opportunity to demonstrate, on a large and public scale, the truths of their teachings as they see them in a very practical way. Christian Science is just the opposite. It must instead flee from such opportunities. Indeed, Christian Science is the only religious force on earth that cannot and will not ever try to apply its teachings in a public, large scale way. To do so risks disaster in a public way-and those in Christian Science know it!!! (If I'm wrong, of course, those still in CS are welcome to "prove it".)
'Something to think about.
John
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Posted Thursday, January 21, 2010 6:07 PM
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One of the straws that broke the back of Christian Science for me was the reaction of Christian Scientists to a disaster.
Shortly after the disaster occurred, a group of Christian Scientists invited me to join a planning session. We were located within a few hours drive of the disaster area. Turned out to be a planning session for a local party for Christian Scientists.
I had been impressed by the responses of local churches organizing prayer groups and sending relief teams. I felt that we could do something for the Christian Scientists affected by the disaster. Of course, there was denial that they could be affected.
The party planning and associated festivities continued in spite of my inquiries about the condition of the Christian Science churches in the affected area. Comparing what I heard from the Christian Scientists to what I had been hearing regarding other churches began to make me angry. I finally demanded that we at least try to find out the needs of the Christian Scientists affected by the disaster.
I suspect they thought I was on the verge of violence, but someone finally agreed to look up some phone numbers and allow me to make some calls while the party planning continued. One other person assisted and we were able to contact the clerk of the church at the center of the disaster. We learned a good part of the church had been destroyed and the local Christian Scientists did need assistance.
Two of us were "commissioned" to conduct a relief trip to the area. Another later joined us. We made arrangements for shelter and set off a few days later. Several people outside of the party planning committee donated tools and gas money.
We drove around downed trees and talked our way through police barricades to get to where we needed to be and slept in the cars. After meeting with the clerk of the church, we set about evaluating what we could do. We restored running water and set other things in place for a more extensive recovery mission.
A member of our team was asked to provide photographs to The Mother Church of the next mission. The same team as the first mission returned the night before the rest of the party planning committee who had finally agreed to participate. The early team got to work early on the morning of the main work day. We got debris cleared that blocked the area where some demolition needed to take place, hooked up generators to a building that was somewhat undamaged, and got the toilets working. The local Christian Scientists we met seemed shell-shocked and grateful for our attention.
We found out after lunch that the rest of the "team" was coming in by private plane and needed to be picked up. Thus, we had to divert personnel and resources to get them. We did get a few hours work from them before having to take them back to the airport. The next morning, Sunday, we conducted a service led by a substitute Reader from outside the affected area dressed in coat and tie. We had the air conditioning running for the sake of the other visitors also dressed in their "Sunday Go to Meeting" clothes. I wore my muddy, ripped work clothes, as did the rest of the core relief team. Have to admit that I hope my lack of a recent shower provided some offence. I am indeed a fallen man.
The photographer, a photojournalist, took several rolls of film showing the impact of the disaster on the church and surrounding area. When I ultimately saw one of the pictures published in the Christian Science Journal, it had been cropped to hide the destruction and emphasised the part of the facility that had been cleaned and relatively untouched. The grass even looked freshly mowed though that too was an illusion. I knew what had been left out of the cropped frame and what the images of the same area looked like in the national media.
Shortly after the publication of the cropped, misleading picture, I submitted my letter of resignation to The Mother Church.
Do Go Be Man
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Posted Thursday, January 21, 2010 7:19 PM
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John - Amazingly well put statement.
Do Good - Wow! What a real life "testimony", if I may use that word!
I hope there's just one CS person on the fence who reads your two posts. What powerful statments to consider when reviewing what one supports and believes in. It's tough to let one's defenses down, but the common sense and logic in these two posts is just great.
Thank you for taking the time to post. I have been helped so much by these forums and now feel it is my time to "pay it forward". I asked these questions for some of the obvious reasons, hoping to illicit answers such as yours. I found with my own loved one, logic does prevails over time.
Helping One Out
(original question poster, sometimes in hurry and fly through my posts w/o signing)
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Posted Thursday, January 21, 2010 8:29 PM
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do go be man
reading your account of how the church responded to the didaster reminded me of just how silly and impractical the cs organization is. For our 'beloved leader' to make claims about how practical cs is in her 'textbook' and then make no provision in her church for weddings and funerals is so absurdly impractical!
Of course, weddings and funerals are not on a par with disaster relief but still...what a shame to make your devotees go somewhere else when 2 cs-ists want to marry. And even worse...make them go to another church or at least have another church's pastor say a few christian words of comfort over the deceased! What was that crazy woman thinking? I guess because she couldn't make her mutiple marriages work she saw no reason for the rest of us to try it. Hence no 'real' need for weddings.
But we all die and have to be buried.
An 'ever present help'?
Practical?
Every day i am reminded of why I left.
born free
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Posted Thursday, January 21, 2010 8:55 PM
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Anonymous (1/21/2010)
Of course, weddings and funerals are not on a par with disaster relief but still...what a shame to make your devotees go somewhere else when 2 cs-ists want to marry.
born free
In recent years it has been discovered that Mary Baker Eddy never issued any directive that weddings and funerals could not be held in Christian Science churches, and a number of branch churches these days are having both in their churches. There were even memorial services for public figures held in The Mother Church during Mrs. Eddy's lifetime.
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Posted Friday, January 22, 2010 5:48 AM
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This reminds me of a CS church meeting I went to. There had been some disaster abroad. One lady, a very loving person, suddenly suggested that the church pool together to send a box of emergency relief items. It was as though she had just dropped a china tea service on the floor! After a very awkward silence - people muttered agreement. But there was no rush of loving action from the heart. I am beginning to realise the extent to which CS and CS "love" is mainly in the mind, and rarely touches the heart.
Starfish
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Posted Friday, January 22, 2010 6:42 AM
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Do Go Be Man,
Too bad we only have your side of the story. But then this goes on all the time around here.
I've noticed here before that when Christian Scientists relate a healing experience they're taken to task for not having or providing "proof".
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