God's Perfect Child Paperback – August 1, 2000

I’m currently reading this book. I grew up in a CS home. I am no longer affiliated in any way with this church cult of seeming very nice people who deprive their children of basic medical care. It’s not just the lack of medicine though. The religion also does not validate emotional difficulties. Don’t discuss the problem. Talking about it makes it real. Instead read this article about the definitions of god. Talk to a practitioner who doesn’t discuss the issue much as they are not trained in any way to do so. You’re told to “know the truth”. Yes. That’s the answer for everything. Instead of helping to sort through difficulties with a trusted parent or hoping for someone to just listen, talking about a problem “makes it appear real”. So don’t talk about it.I’ve watched people I’ve known opt for Christian Science instead of medical help and they died when medicine would have saved their lives. Parents who just let their kids die and go about their lives as though it’s all in a day.I’m sorry to sound cruel but this is a time when more folks are choosing their “religious liberty” over science for their children. Children can’t make a decision on their care and not vaccinating them for example, is on the rise. Christian Science has an important lesson to teach us. Diseases like polio can and have returned.In a religion that teaches that god is a father/mother concept but also an idea with no personhood, the followers of Christian Science revere the person who was their leader. It’s as though she could do wrong. My mother referred to her as “Mrs. Eddy” I used to hear all about her. Everything I heard was glowing. This woman could do no wrong. This is what is striking about this book. Mrs Eddy was not a very nice person and believed in getting revenge on her enemies, and would go the extra mile to trash someone by writing articles about them for newspapers to wreck reputations or suing them. She demanded fierce loyalty and made pronouncements as to how everyone should live their lives but didn’t follow that advice herself. This caused many early followers to leave the religion. She also had a weird need for her followers to call her “mother” However, she sent her son to live with someone else to be raised when he was 5 and she was very disinterested in being his mom.I’m blown away by what I’m reading. There are very few books available which hold CS and it’s leader accountable for the damage it has done. Apparently the church tries to get rid of books that paint Mrs Eddy or the religion in a negative light.When this book originally came out my mother made a fuss about me not reading some book by Caroline Fraser. She was quite upset at its publication. I wasn’t interested back then anyway, so I didn’t investigate it further. All these years later I realize how CS has shaped my life in negative ways and Ms Fraser’s book is helping me understand why I sometimes have a hard time with handling problems I didn’t cause, like guilt for getting sick.Is Christian Science abuse? That’s a tough question to answer. Christian Scientists love their kids and believe this is the best way to deal or rather not deal with problems or illnesses. Christian Science definitely blames the victim for getting sick. It goes beyond the idea that your thoughts create your reality. They literally believe your thoughts would be the reason behind developing cancer, appendicitis, the flu, etc. Personal or emotional problems which may have or may not have been your fault are thought of as, the not being reflective of the “real man of god’s creating” but by “mortal mind” I still have no idea what that actually means.I think this is an important book because there are many like me who have been searching for validation that we’re not crazy. We’ve been deprived and in lots of ways very neglected but definitely not crazy.It’s an eye opener and every Christian Scientist should probably read it and think about why they would choose to believe the writing of someone who actually seems to have had some serious mental problems.

The negative reviews of this book on here are disingenuous, unintelligent, and shrill.But they are typical. The Church and its members don't want to own up to how dangerous it is adhering to the strictest tenets of Christian Science. Of course, anyone who believes that diabetes, a broken bone, a terminal illness, or any other life-threatening illnesses can be done away with by wishing and praying need a serious reality check.My paternal grandmother was a Christian Science practitioner. She told me I could give a "demonstration" by curing myself of my congenital hearing defect.These are the issues behind the religion, its founder, and the Church, that Caroline Fraser has so scrupulously, relentlessly researched - and is the basis for this spellbinding book.Fraser's level of scholarship, reasoning, analysis, presentation, and cogent, stylish writing is, in a word, extraordinary.Her work here, without (naturally) the "cooperation" of the Church, is of an unbelievable breadth, reporting, and super-completeness. Every possible angle is investigated, elaborated upon, and made manifestly clear.You can almost discern Fraser's incredulous tone in places where the ignorance and shocking indifference directed toward those in need of medical care which results in horrific tragedy; not just dying, but of needless suffering due to withholding of medications. It is difficult to read some of the sheer stupidity of the actions of some of the "followers," and their heinous complacency and indifference to obviously ill and suffering people; your heart breaks for the many children in these pages who didn't have to die.Then there is the matter of money, and "mishandled" funds. Lawsuits. Infighting in the Church. All of it, appalling.The Church did in fact have a chance to redeem itself. The most revealing factor in this examination, of great interest, is that one of the Church's teachers, Arthur Corey, had the potential to modernize the extremist, fear-propagating tenets of Christian Science, but - no surprise - he was vilified and stymied by the powers that be running the institution.As Fraser writes: "But Corey also had an unerring sense of where the Christian Science movement had gone wrong. He identified the Church's gradual insistence after (Mary Baker) Eddy's death on "radical reliance" as a bad political mistake, forcing Scientists to take a hard line that made the religion unappealing to outsiders and critics. Corey is virtually the only Christian Scientist ever to acknowledge honestly and directly the dangers that the religion posed to children, publishing a description of children who had suffered and died as a result of overzealous reliance on Christian Science. ""The irony of Arthur Corey's life and career as an outcast Christian Scientist lies in the fact that he represented, on many levels, the best qualities of his religion. He embodied the kindness, compassion, and temperateness of the moderate Scientist, the Scientist who chooses not to force his beliefs on others or push his patients and students beyond what they can stand. He acknowledged, as no Christian Scientist publicly has before or since, the mental anguish that is caused by not knowing the potential severity of any given illness: "I have seen more than one patient relieved of unbearable terror by a medical diagnosis which revealed that a particular disorder was benign or malignant," he wrote. "It is nonsense to think the doctors produce the disease." His teachings stripped the religion of its darkest impulses toward paranoia and extremism. He stood for what Christian Science might have been at its best: a devotion to exploring the meaning of life, health and true morality. Arthur Corey died in 1977, dismissed by the Church but, nonetheless, a popular and enthusiastic Christian Science teacher to the end." (end quote)I have known many Christian Scientists who visit their doctors regularly and get the proper medical intervention as needed. The religion, for them, is greatly helpful in giving them inner strength to cope with life. My fear, though, is that innocent people, especially children, will continue to be the institution's casualties.Until now, I had never understood why my grandmother functioned the way she did; she alienated practically everyone in her midst by being a fanatic of CS, and caused much ill-will and bad tidings. She only became human and real when she wasn't under CS's dictum. I only wonder what she would have been like had she not been so *fanatical,* so unyielding.This peerless, supremely presented study of Fraser's can hardly be bettered - and may stand as the definitive history and examination of Christian Science.

I married into a Christian Science family, and I saw how they used prayer instead of medical treatment or medicine. So, I was especially excited to find this book! I started out reading it on Kindle, but realized that this is a book I need to actually "see and grab hold of" in my life. So a paperback version is on my bookshelf next to my Bible and Science and Health. I am immensely grateful to the author. I have finally found the closure I've been searching for.

Engaging and informative window into the history and culture of a fairly quiet sect. Be aware that it is written by someone who has had very negative experiences, so expect it to be critical in tone and discouraging of the group's beliefs and practices. It is still factually accurate and not sensationalized or vitriolic. A truly interesting read.

If you're wanting a secular, well-written and well-researched read of Mary Baker Eddy and Christian Science this is an excellent read.

Basically a sad tale that needs to be told.

This book is so good! I've read most of the books for ex-Scientists and have found this to be the best. It is objective and very well written. I especially enjoyed the history of the church and the biographical section about Mrs. Eddy. While a Scientist I was never able to get through her authorized biographies because I just couldn't believe them. This one feels real to me. The church has revised its way of dealing with children, (My state COP rep is telling the Scientists in my area that she only will treat a child for 24 hours, after that she tells the parents to take them to a doctor), but there is still lots of pressure on adults to stay the course even if CS isn't helping them. This is a very interesting read and I highly recommend it.

I’m re-reading my Kindle edition and have ordered a paper version to share with a few family and friends. I was “raised in Science” and tried to be a good Scientist. Tried to talk the talk and walk the walk. Agonized. Was out for good by 1983 (my early 30s) and haven’t looked back. This book is an excellent counter to the fawning paeans of praise served up by Peel and other biographers who are authorized/endorsed by the Mother Church. Having read a bit about the extent to which TMC campaigned against other “objectionable” books, I’m curious as to what steps they took to “defend” TMC from the “MAM” so strongly presented in this excellent reference work.