Declaration of Principles
We believe in One God
We believe everything is Spirit
We believe in personal immortality
We believe in heaven on earth
We believe in personal freedom
We believe in the unity of all life
We believe in the personification of God
We believe in personal revelation
We believe in Universal laws
We believe in spiritual healing
We believe in personal power
We believe in the goodness of God
We believe in self determination
Our History
Religious Science is a correlation of laws of science, opinions of philosophy, and revelations of religion applied to the needs and aspirations of humankind. A practical teaching, it helps people experience health, happiness, peace, and love.Ernest Holmes founded the International Religious Science movement, wrote The Science of Mind and numerous other books on metaphysics, and originated the international periodical Science of Mind magazine, which has been in continuous publication since 1927.
Holmes' Science of Mind teaching, recognized today as one of the leading viewpoints in modern metaphysics, is a spiritual philosophy that has brought to people around the world a working cosmology - a sense of their relationship to God and their place in the Universe - and a positive, supportive approach to daily living.RSI is comprised of several hundred affiliated churches and Societies,which are smaller groups, working towards church status. The change in status to a nonprofit recognized Society was spearheaded by the Reverend Tanya Wyldflower, when she received her license as an Interim Field Minister to become the official minister of the Society.
A Religious Science group has had a presence on the coast since 1990 when Reverend Alice Soden and her husband, Jim, founded the Fort Bragg Church of Religious Science. The church moved and became a Science of Mind Study Group under the leadership of Reverend Tana Chuhay in 1995, until Tanya Wyldflower took over leadership in March of 1997. Mendocino Coast Science of Mind gains official Society status from the parent organization, Religious Science International (RSI) on November 1998. Due to pressing family concerns, Reverend Wyldflower let go of being Pastor in 2000. Reverend Wayne Stevenson was elected Pastor in the summer of 2001 and served for one year. He resigned to take the call at a larger Church.
Reverend Merry White candidated and was chosen to become our next pastor in the fall of 2003. She successfully increased our membership to qualify our Center to change from being a Society to having full Church status, with a minimum of 50 members. Reverend Merry served as Pastor for one year and had to resign due to health problems. Reverend Tanya Wyldflower offered, and was accepted, to be the next Spiritual Director for our Center. She received her lifetime ordination as a Religious Science Minister in 2007. Reverend Gail Johnson was accepted as the Assistant Minister in January, 2007.
Ernest Holmes
Ernest Holmes founded the International Religious Science movement, wrote The Science of Mind and numerous other books on metaphysics, and originated the international periodical Science of Mind magazine, which has been in continuous publication since 1927. Holmes' Science of Mind teaching, recognized today as one of the leading viewpoints in modern metaphysics, is a spiritual philosophy that has brought to people around the world a working cosmology - a sense of their relationship to God and their place in the Universe - and a positive, supportive approach to daily living.
Ernest Holmes was born in 1887 on a small Maine farm, the youngest of nine sons. As a teenager, he attended Bethel preparatory school, but he spent most of his time out-of-doors, asking himself "What is God? Who am I? Why am I here?" He mentally tangled with all the local preachers and doubted the answers he got in church. At the age of 18 he left school and formal education and set out on his lifelong course of independent thinking. He went to Boston, worked in a grocery store, and pursued his studies relentlessly. A year late, he discovered the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson. "Reading Emerson is like drinking water to me," he said later. His metaphysical studies intensified, his quest for truth leading him to literature, art, science, philosophy, and religion.
In 1914, at the age of 25, Ernest moved to Venice, California. Pursuing his studies, he discovered the writings of Thomas Troward, which fed the flame ignited by Emerson earlier. Almost casually, he began speaking on Troward's writings to small but ever-growing groups. Without ceremony, his lifetime ministry had begun. Later, as his audiences grew, he was ordained as a minister of the Divine Science Church.
Ernest published his first book, Creative Mind, in 1919, continued his studies, and lectured to growing crowds in California and Eastern cities. Meanwhile, he was writing The Science of Mind, which was to become the "textbook" of the Religious Science philosophy. Published in 1926, it was revised in 1938, is now in its 45th printing, and has been translated into French, German, and Japanese. At the time the book was published, his many enthsiastic students urged him to set up an incorporated organization. He refused at first, but eventually agreed, and the Institute of Religious Science and the School of Philosophy was incorporated in 1927. In 1953, the Institute became the Church of Religious Science. In 1967, it acquired its present-day title, United Church of Religious Science, with member churches throughout the world.
(The above was Abstracted from the booklet Path of Discovery, prepared by Scott Awbrey, Los Angeles United Church of Religious Science, 1987.)
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The Search for Truth*
from HOW TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE by Dr. Ernest Holmes"What is the Truth? Where can it be found? And how is it used? These are questions that an intelligent person asks. The answer is found in the study of the Science of Mind. Shorn of dogmatism, freed from superstition and always ready for greater illumination, the Science of Mind offers the student of life the best that the world has so far discovered. It has been well said that "religions are many; but Religion is one." The varying faiths of mankind are unnumbered, but the primal faith of the race is today, as of old, the One Faith; an instinctive reliance upon the Unseen, which we have learned to call God. Religion is One. Faith is One. Truth is One. There is one Reality at the heart of all religions, whether their name be Hindu, Mohammedan, Christian or Jewish..."