List of Christian Scientists (religious denomination)

This list concerns the role that members of the denomination called Church of Christ, Scientist had in world history. For a list about Christians who are also scientists go to List of Christian thinkers in science.

Politics

Political figures

• Nancy Witcher Astor In Sykes's Nancy the life of Lady Astor (Academy Chicago, 1984), and her own letters Nancy Astor’s Canadian Correspondence, 1912-1962 it mentions how much she promoted the religion. The effect it had on her election campaigns and her political views is mentioned in Karen J Musolf's From Plymouth to Parliament (St. Martin's Press, 1999)
• Fred B. Balzar-^[1]
• Owen Brewster-^[1][2]
• Ralph Lawrence Carr-^[3]
• Thelma Cazalet-Keir British Conservative Member of Parliament.
• Thomas M. Davis-^[4][5]
• David Dreier-^[6]
• John Ehrlichman - Watergate Figure ^[7]
• Sir Lionel Fraser - British banker^[8]
• Bob Goodlatte-^[9]
• H.R. Haldeman-Watergate figure described as, in those days, A Christian Scientist who neither smokes nor drinks.^[10]
• Philip Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian-His death in 1940, which was when he was the British Ambassador to the United States of America, gained some attention due to his faith.^[11]
• Egil Krogh - Watergate Figure^[12]
• Scott McCallum-Milwaukee Sentinel mentioned how Wisconsin's Christian Scientists "finally got their prayers answered" by his election.^[13]
• Henry Paulson-74th United States Secretary of the Treasury^[14][15][16]
• Charles H. Percy-^[17]
• Chris Shays
• Lamar S. Smith-^[18]
• Stansfield Turner - Admiral and former CIA Director ^[19]
• William Hedgcock Webster-In the Salon article.
• Margaret Wintringham Second woman to take her seat as a British Member of Parliament.
• John D. Works-An early, possibly the earliest, example of a Christian Scientist in the US Senate.^[1][20]

Arts and Entertainment

Artists

• Alberta Neiswanger Hall - composer of children's songs and composed musical settings for The Songs of Father Goose^[21]
• Willis Vernon Cole - Writer put on trial for practicing Christian Science healing without a medical license.^[22][23]
• Joseph Cornell - Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures is said to have been very important to him and his art.^[24]
• Evelyn Dunbar - English artist and muralist, employed as an official war artist during World War 2.^[25]
• "Fougasse" the noted cartoonist taught at the Christian Science Sunday School in Sloane Square, London, UK, for a number of years (the church there is now called Cadogan Hall).
• Godfrey John - Welsh poet and Christian Science teacher^[26][27]
• Mina Loy^[28]
• William D. McCrackan - writer, author of The Rise of the Swiss Republic^[29]
• Winifred Nicholson^[30][31]
• Violet Oakley - An American artist known for her murals and her work in stained glass.^[32]
• Sergei Prokofiev - Regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century.^[33][34]

Entertainment figures

• Kenny L. Baker - A singer who also acted in musicals. He wrote hymns for the faith and later became a Christian Science practitioner.^[35][36]
• Valerie Bergere - French-born actress of stage and screen.^[37][38]
• Cornelius Bumpus - Jazz musician, member of the Doobie Bros. and Steely Dan.^[39]
• Blanche Calloway - Cab Calloway's sister and a bandleader.^[40][41]
• Carol Channing - Although she did see a Dr. Bill Cayhand in cases of more severe medical problems.^[42]
• Juanin Clay - American actress with roles in WarGames and The Legend of the Lone Ranger.^[43]
• Joan Crawford - convert from Catholicism.^[44][45]
• Doris Day - There is some evidence that she currently sees it solely as a philosophy, not a religion.^[46][47]
• Colleen Dewhurst-Discussed in pages 368-374 of her unfinished autobiography.^[48]
• Robert Duvall - Raised Christian Scientist, identifies as such, but non-practicing.^[49][50]
• Georgia Engel - American film, television, and stage actress.^[51][52]
• Horton Foote - Playwright and screenwriter.^[53][54]
• Charlotte Greenwood - Actress and dancer.^{[55][56][57][58]}
• Joyce Grenfell - Niece of Nancy Astor, also wrote music.^[59][60]
• Corinne Griffith^[61][62]
• Lionel Hampton - Jazz Musician^[63][64]
• David Liebe Hart - Puppeteer, actor, singer and painter^[65]
• Howard Hawks - Film Director^[66]
• Peter Horton - Actor^[67]
• Bud Jamison - Actor active from 1915 to 1944.^[68]
• Leatrice Joy - Silent film star who retired to Greenwich, Connecticut, attending the church there for many years.^[69][70]
• Alexandra Kent - Ballet Dancer^[71]
• Val Kilmer- Reads scripture to a congregation in New Mexico.^[72][73]
• Kay Kyser - A Christian Science practitioner and active promoter.^[74][75] (The link has more detail, in the 1950-1985 section)
• Martin Melcher - Producer, third husband of Doris Day.^[76]
• Conrad Nagel - Actor^[77][78]
• Michael Nesmith - The Monkees^[79]
• Antoinette Perry - Noted female Broadway director, mentor and actress. Namesake of the Tony Awards.^[80][81]
• Mary Pickford (actress/producer) - Canadian-American motion picture actress, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 1934: Mary published Why Not Try God?, a booklet touting Christian Science.
• Ginger Rogers - Christian Science beliefs and upbringing.^[82][83]
• J D Salinger- Joined it as well as various other faiths^[84][85]
• Lilia Skala - Actress best known for playing the Mother Superior in Lilies of the Field, convert to the faith and mentioned it often.^[86]
• Jean Stapleton - Actress, best known for playing Edith Bunker.^[87]
• W. S. Van Dyke - Director of The Thin Man and others.^[88][89]
• King Vidor - Director, producer, and screenwriter who won an Academy Honorary Award.^[90]
• Anna May Wong - However she also believed in reincarnation and there are disputed claims she embraced some Taoist principles.,^[91][92]
• Alfre Woodard - Actress who won awards for roles in Miss Evers' Boys, Radio, Memphis Beat, and others.^[93][94]
• Alan Young- He founded a film and broadcast division for the Christian Science church,^[95] though he later was critical of the church as an organization.^[96]

Sports

Athletes/Sportspeople

• Adin Brown - US Soccer player^[97]
• Nile Kinnick-American college football player and Heisman Trophy winner.^[98]
• Shannon Miller - American gymnast ^[99])
• George Sisler - Baseball Player^[100]

Intellectual life

Academia

• David E. Sweet, founding president of Metropolitan State University and later president of Rhode Island College^[101]

Journalism

• Edward J. Meeman, American journalist^[102]

Exploration, Invention, and Science

• Neil Kensington Adam - British chemist who wrote the article A CHRISTIAN SCIENTIST'S APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF NATURAL SCIENCE.^[103][104]
• J. Robert Atkinson – Founder of the Braille Institute of America^[105]
• Edmund F. Burton – Physician who left medicine for the study of Christian Science^[106]
• Laurance Doyle - Researcher at SETI^[107]
• Dorothy Harrison Eustis - Founder of "The Seeing Eye."^[108]
• Bette Nesmith Graham-^[79] Inventor of Liquid Paper and mother of Mike Nesmith.
• Charles Lightoller - Surviving Second Officer of the Titanic.^[109]
• Jer Master - Indian pediatrician who abandoned medicine for the faith.^{[110][111][112]}
• Alan Shepard - First American in space.^[113][114]
• Doris Huestis Speirs - A Canadian ornithologist, artist and poet.^[115]

Notable people raised in Christian Science

• Jean Arthur (raised in it)
• Richard Bach bestselling author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull was a reader in the Christian Science Church until the early 1970s ^[116]
• Jonathan Carroll - Raised in it by Jewish converts to it, but no longer practicing.^[117]
• Hart Crane - Raised in the faith, but never very observant.^[118]
• Christina Crawford - Mentioned in Mommie Dearest.
• Ellen DeGeneres - She was not vaccinated as a child and says she felt "Left out."^[119]
• Daniel Ellsberg - His parents were Jewish converts to Christian Science.^[120]
• Henry Fonda - Raised Christian Scientist, but drifted later in life.^[121]
• William Everson - Christian Scientist parents who became a member of the Dominican Order for 18 years.^[122]
• Stewart Farrar-Abandoned it in favor of agnosticism and then Neopaganism^[123]
• Paul Feig - The creator of Freaks and Geeks, his Christian Science upbringing is mentioned in Superstud: Or How I Became a 24-Year-Old Virgin.^[124]
• Ralph Giordano - German writer. His parents were members of the Christian Science Church. This fact is mentioned in Giordano's autobiographical novel The Bertinis.
• Kelsey Grammer - Informally raised in it, but left it after his sister's murder.^[125][126]
• Spalding Gray - Christian Science upbringing which he used for humor.^[127][128]
• Keith Green - His Jewish mother was a practicing Christian Scientist. Source: No Compromise: The Life Story of Keith Green
• Howard Hawks - registered as Christian Science and his mother was of that faith. He may have stayed active.^[66]
• Ernest Hemingway - His mother was a practicing Christian Scientist.
• Jim Henson - In his twenties he was a Sunday School teacher in the faith, but fifteen years before he died he wrote to a Christian Science church to inform them he was no longer a practicing member.^[129][130]
• Audrey Hepburn-Her mother was a devout Christian Scientist, but she chose not be attached to any particular religion.^[131]
• James Hetfield - Of Metallica, his The God that Failed is one of many songs that are a response to it.^[132]
• Bruce Hornsby - Rock Musician^[133]
• Jack Kemp - Raised Christian Scientist he later became a Presbyterian.^[134]
• Helmuth James Graf von Moltke - His parents were Christian Scientists.^[135]
• Marilyn Monroe - Her mother was obsessed with the faith, but was only minimally involved in her life due to mental illness.
• V. S. Pritchett-His father was a Christian Scientist and he was raised in it, but later disparaging of it.^[136]
• Chris Shays - An active member for most of his life,^[137][138] but no longer a practicing member.^[139]
• John Simpson - BBC Journalist^[140]
• Danielle Steel - Mentioned in interviews.^[141]
• Julian Steward - His mother was a devout convert.
• Elizabeth Taylor - Raised in it, but converted to Judaism on marrying Eddie Fisher. She remained Jewish until her death and joked of herself as "a nice little Jewish girl."^[142]
• William Thetford - His parents were of it, but left when he was seven due to the death of their daughter.
• Robin Williams - His mother was a Christian Scientist^[143]
• Grace Mann Brown - Author and lecturer related to Christian Science, Divine Science and New Thought Movement, founder of the Order of the Essenes. Worked in the administration of Unity Churches and the New Thought Alliance. Editor of Christian Science and New Thought magazines and journals.

See also

• Church of Christ, Scientist
• Manual of The Mother Church
• Demographics of the United States Congress

References

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21. "The Songs of Father Goose" Open Library. Retrieved May 6, 2013
22. The New York Times, January 27, 1911: “Science Healers to Fight Test Case”
23. The New York Times, New York NY, October 4, 1916: "Annuls Conviction of W.V. Cole, Healer"
24. Guggenheim Collection
26. Christian Science Association of the Pupils of Godfrey John, C.S.B
27. Poetry of Godfrey John
28. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Modern Poetry bios
29. Flower, B. O., "Reckless and Irresponsible Attacks on Christian Science" The Arena, Vol. XXXVII, January to June (1907). The Brandt Press, Trenton, N.J., U.S.A., p. 59. Retrieved June 22, 2013
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46. The Telegraph-Herald of February 27, 1976: "I guess the soda fountain became such a big thing because at the time, I was a Christian Scientist, and when you are a member of the church, you don't smoke or drink"
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60. The joy of Joyce by Chris Patterson in the Watford Observer
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67. The Milwaukee Sentinel of March 9, 1984
68. Bud Jamison entry at threestooges.net
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72. Spirituality.com
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75. Kay Kyser.net
76. TCM
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95. The Miami News of July 23, 1976
96. LA Times on Alan Young's memoir: Although he remains a devotee of writings by Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy, he is no longer a churchgoer.
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118. New York Times
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120. Sydney Morning Herald
121. Adherents.com
122. Encyclopædia Britannica
123. Farrar, Janet and Stewart
124. Superstud
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126. MSNBC
127. The Guardian
128. Contemporary Lit
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130. Toledo Blade
131. Adherents.com
132. Song Facts
133. Adherents.com
134. The New York Times
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137. CNN
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139. Connecticut Post Archived September 28, 2007 at the Wayback Machine
140. The Observer
141. Adherents.com
143. The religion of Robin Williams, actor, comedian

External links

• Adherents.com "Famous Christian Scientists"
• Political Graveyard section of "Christian Scientists"
• Trivia Library on the topic
• The Handbook of Texas (For uncertain reasons many names here can be found on that site)