5000 kids

there's still at least 5000 kids in christian science sunday schools

** Continuing the dialogue with my anonymous commenter, who thinks I need to save some of the 5000 kids still in Christian Science Sunday Schools. Again I demur.

1. That's not a large number. There are probably more kids being abused daily by priests in Catholic schools and churches across the country. And that's damage being done right now. Whereas kids of Christian Scientist parents are simply being indoctrinated into a belief system that exposes them to risk, first from their parents' decisions and then from the bad health practices they learn. Also, there are plenty more weird parents of other religious persuasions doing present and future damage to kids just because they're bad people.

3. Kids of Christian Scientist parents don't have much choice about where they're going to spend their Sunday mornings. Their parents just take them there and the kids learn to adapt the best they can. This does not necessarily mean they're getting deeply programmed. Christian Science is boring for kids. For them Sunday School (and camp, and higher schools and that college) it's mostly a social thing. Although, admittedly, some find the beliefs meaningful because of other factors in their lives.

The problem is the parents, the die-hards who make decisions for their kids that put them in danger. Or the ideals or fears they instill in the kids that lead them to adopt this totally unreasonable way of life when they get on their own. It's the same with all religions - get to the kids and make them believe they actually belong to something important and vital to their interests. That's why I never use the term "(x) (religion) kids." Kids are natural atheists until they are warped into identifying with the cults of their parents. Instead, they should be described as "the kids of (x) religionists."

In any case, the musings of this old fart will hardly reach them. I would gladly disabuse parents of the folly of putting their kids into Christian Science (or any other) Sunday Schools if any would seek my counsel - but I doubt any would. And again, the numbers aren't there. Christian Science is an old fad that is rapidly dying out with the wealthy but dying old farts who never broke the spell.

However, there are much more articulate thinkers on this subject who should be studied, my favorite being Daniel C. Dennett. I read "Breaking the Spell," as I was climbing out of the rubble of my destroyed career at the Boston headquarters. From there I moved on to his "Darwin's Dangerous Idea." And once I discovered evolution it wasn't long before Dennett led to Dawkins, led to Harris led to Stenger and the so-called New Atheists.

When the spell broke, I found myself mentally, and emotionally, back to the point just before I began the 35-year-long detour trying to make Christian Science respectable to myself and the general public. It has been difficult closing the gap between then and now, but five years later I am scrambling to accomplish something of artistic value before infirmity or some other cataclysm shuts me down. It's a more positive contribution, I feel, than writing a screed against something hardly anyone cares about anymore. ("Phrenology Exposed!")

Interestingly, for several months after leaving Boston I, for some other reason entirely, wrote short diary-like accounts, which I now see contain signs of my awkward and painful awakening out of a life-long theological trance. These may someday be useful, or at least interesting, to someone trying to break free of religion - though I'm sure Christian Science will be even more irrelevant by then.

The commenter also mentioned I was a "made man in the Christian Science mafia." Well, I have the right kind of surname, and probably the other qualification... Still, they never let me be boss of anything. ;-)