Has anyone had a bad experience with those guys/

Yes I can say that I have had experience with this cult and similar groups
They believe that you can cure illness by thoughts alone and follow Ernest Holmes who like many cult leaders invented a religion based on wackiness.

Are they harmless? You have to ask yourself is going to the doctor a good thing? Is science real and I am not talking about what they refer to as the science of mind. IT IS NOT A SCIENCE but a false psdeoscience based on disbelief in logic and just good basic honest common sense,

It is nice to think positive but louise hay a leader in the groups claims that aids suffering can cure there aids by chanting her mantras of positive affirmations and they will just make the people turn away from proven medical science and reason.

they do not to my knowlege live in communes like the hari krisnas branch davidians or sceintologist sea corps but they are very very bad with what they teach and the behavior leads to a loss of reason and becoming a holmes zombie. I have read some of there books and they are nutty as are all religions or anti science people and cultists.

I would stay away from this group you can learn more about thinking posiitve by going to a qualified medical doctor or mental health practioner who follows Western advancement and scientific reason and training.

A girl I knew at the college near where I lived in the 80s was into louse hay and had the book You can heal your life . she did not get better but spent a lot of money on the books and tapes and even went to some high priced faith healing seminar by guru hay her self . this is new age rubbish no they don\t drink poison cool aid but they will take your logic and intelligent street smarts

Speak of the devil, heh ... My mom is an attendee of that church. A few of her 'friends' there convinced her to attend Landmark's 'The Forum'. Another friend suggested they get a financial advisor, WFG/WMA ...

What an 'Effing morass ...

Pyramid schemes swirling round and round ...

Forget about being objective, the bloody place is a goddamn hotspot for grifters/wack-jobs/megalomaniacs and their willing - tho well meaning victim$.

I'VE LOST ALL TOLERANCE FOR RELIGION AND NON SECULAR ACTIVITIES :D

Celebrate the new dark age ...

Quote
supermonkey
Are they harmless? You have to ask yourself is going to the doctor a good thing? Is science real and I am not talking about what they refer to as the science of mind. IT IS NOT A SCIENCE but a false psdeoscience based on disbelief in logic and just good basic honest common sense

My experience with Religious Science is that it is very similar to Unity (I have written about my experience with Unity on a thread about Unity). I agree with supermonkey that Religious Science is a pseudoscience which discourages critical thinking and promotes a belief that any problem or issue can be resolved merely by positive thinking. I also found that it was hard to connect with or get to know the people in the group.

I, too, am totally disillusioned with anything even remotely religious.

QuestionEverything

I have extensive experience within Religious Science, as I do with Unity. Both are part of the century-old "New Thought" movement, and as such teach very similar theologies. From my experience, RS is somewhat less "devious" and more transparent than Unity as an overall organization. RS people do tend to be more cold and clinical in their approach to spirituality. However, I do believe that the core RS texts are of higher quality (er, relatively speaking!) than anything from Unity. The founder of RS was primarily inspired by Ralph Waldo Emerson, who was no slouch. That said, a lot of RS churches and ministers DO teach things that are not in their books at all (such as channeling, shamanism, etc.) hence the "magical thinking" and various other delusions and so forth. There is also a tremendous emphasis on "prosperity consciousness" i.e., MONEY, but then that's the case with every church or spiritual organization.

Quote

I also found that it was hard to connect with or get to know the people in the group.

I felt the same way, but I didn't go to an RS or Unity church looking for a social circle so I wasn't as disappointed by that aspect.

Hello,

I have a friend who has begun attending meetings at the Church of Religious Science. I warned her to do her research on the group to ensure it isn't a cult, but she didn't bother checking, only offered me assurance that it wasn't and THEN invited me to their upcoming picnic! They are trying to get her to recruit her friends already!

How do I get her to open her eyes? How can I warn her without her denying my information and getting angry with me? I do NOT want my friend in a cult!

Thank you!

Okay--first of all--go look at the except of Lifton's book:

[www.culteducation.com]

Then read this link outlining the warning signs of a cult situation:

[www.culteducation.com]

I used to go to a religious science church in the Seattle area for 2.5 years--a well known one in the RS world--the Center for Spiritual Living-- and I can tell you that they don't even come close to qualifying as a cult. The RS church is not hard core like the Christian Scientists--they do encourage people to go to doctors.

It's more of a church where people who want a "church experience" can go and not feel like they are going to hell for not believing in Jesus or Allah or whatever dogma.

Yes, it does have some wacky focus on manifestation and setting intention and creating your own reality and on prosperity consciousness (RS people are BIG into Prosperity)--but there is nothing cult level about it. Don't worry about your friend.

My own experience was that I dug it for a couple years (and this was first group experience I was comfortable having after having left a cult)--and then I was over it. It stopped working for me.

I think it's a bit of a juvenile religion in that it is pretty shallow--a sort of religion made around positive thinking. I noticed that a lot of people have had the same experience as myself: digging it for awhile, then leaving when they have plumbed the depths of what it has to offer.

The problem with the RS church's ideas about positive thinking is that such strategies are not based on any empirical evidence whatsoever. There is NO scientific basis that "positive thought" does ANYTHING. What is "positive thought" anyway. It cannot even be defined. Anything that cannot be defined in real, concrete terms is worthless at best. It's just mental masturbation.

Believing in a certain type of thought process without any concrete evidence that it works is at least a waste of time, and at worst, detrimental to logical, critical thought.

Weeeellll, I'm surprised at myself--but I have to disagree with you. People believe a lot of things that don't stand up to empirical evidence because it makes them feel good. And, because RS absolutely does not meet the criteria for being a cult--(believe me, Landmark is more screwed up than RS and even RR himself doesn't call Landmark a cult--I know this because I actually had the opportunity to have achat with him while he was in town for a deprogramming)--believing in it's tennants without empirical evidence is not harmful. Sure, it may be mental masturbation--but haven't we learned that masterbation does not, in fact, cause blindness?

And--you're wrong about everything they believe not being based in science. Someone believing that changing their thinking will effect positive changes in their life is enough to actually create positive changes in their life. This is the very essence of why placebos work--and science has proven over and over again that placebos--ie. the power of someone's belief--is very very effective.

As I have worked with clinical trials, I am very aware of the placebo effect. There is DOCUMENTED evidence that it exists and that it has an effect. That is why valid tests are double blind.

I meant "mental masturbation" as a metaphor. I was not commenting on the traditional meaning of masturbation (self-stimulation of the pudendae) at all.

Yes, believing in things makes people feel good, but if the beliefs are not based on verified FACTS, they can be harmful and even dangerous.

People believe in God because it makes them feel good, but when a little child who believes in God asks God for protection from a child molester and then does not receive that help, that betrayal from the imaginary "God" is even more harmful to that child.