California transplant Elizabeth O’Day is to be installed as senior minister at the Salt Lake Center for Spiritual Living (formerly known as the Salt Lake Church of Religious Science) on Nov. 10, at 6:30 p.m. The church is located 870 E. North Union Ave. in Midvale. Visit SpirituallyFree.org for directions, Sunday services and other information.
nnIs the Science of Mind philosophy you follow an offshoot of Scientology?
nnNot at all. Science of Mind is an offshoot of American Transcendentalism, a New England phenomenon with Ralph Waldo Emerson as its main influence. … At the turn of the last century, many educated people were exploring how the mind works and if the healings of Jesus had any validity. Science of Mind is the response to that inquiry.
nnShould science have anything to do with religion?
nnIf you look at titles of books from the 1930s, you will notice that science predominates. The science of child-raising, the science of homemaking, etc. Everything was a science, as our culture sought to make science its new religion. … I believe the title “Religious Science” came out of that cultural mindset. … For the last 30 years, your questions regarding Scientology and the word “science” in general are the main ones we get asked and were instrumental in our official name change last year.
nnDo you have any LDS members?
nnAbout half our congregation of 160-200 is LDS; some are still active LDS. My observation so far is that the LDS Church goes out of its way to support other faiths and has a broader tolerance for diversity than most mainstream faiths.
nnAre spiritual healings central to your faith?
nnI have seen and participated in some amazing healings. However, there has come a deepening in our movement as a group into no longer seeing our afflictions and diseases as something to be removed at all costs. The divine presence is within all life, and every moment.
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