This religious sect is a part of what has been termed the “New Thought Movement.” It is based on a belief that the human mind is an expression of the Universal Mind. The universe is its physical manifestation. Something called “affirmative prayer” is used to bring healing to the mind or the body. Ministers and practitioners give spiritual mind treatments. Dr. Ernest Holmes published his beliefs in the book, The Science of Mind, in 1926. The next year he formed the Institute of Religious Science and Philosophy in Los Angeles, California, to disseminate his doctrinal views. In 1949 the United Church of Religious Science was established.

Doctrinal Stance on the Seven Pillars of Wisdom

The Origin and Nature of the Universe

United Church of Religious Science (Dr. Ernest Holmes): “Creation is God making something out of Himself, or Itself, by becoming the thing He creates…We must understand that Creation does not mean making something out of nothing, but means the passing of Substance into form.”¹ “Creation is the passing of Being into becoming: the flowing of the Invisible into the visible.”² Just as God and man have a ‘trinity,’ so the universe has a ‘trinity’ aspect: (1) The Physical World; (2) The Mental World; (3) The Conscious World. Human beings are one with all three of these aspects.

1 Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind (New York: R.M McBride and Co., 1938, New York: Penguin Putnam, Inc., rev. and enl. ed., 1966) p. 582 (page citation is to reprint edition).

2 Ernest Holmes, A Dictionary of New Thought Terms (Marina del Rey, California: DeVorss Publications, 1991) p. 30.

The Nature of God

United Church of Religious Science (Dr. Ernest Holmes): Taught that God is “the Neutral Force,” yet personal to those who believe in “the Infinite.” He redefined the Christian concept of the Trinity using the following descriptions: “The Father [is] the supreme creative Principle…[and] means Absolute Being.”¹Furthermore, “the entire manifestation of the Infinite in any and all planes, levels, states of consciousness, or manifestations, constitutes the Son.”² Finally, “the Holy Ghost signifies the feminine aspect of the Divine Trinity. It represents the divine activity of the higher mental plane.”³ Ernest Holmes’ concept of God was pantheistic, promoting the idea that the cosmos is the “entire manifestation of Spirit”⁴ and that “God is in everything.”⁵

1 Ernest Holmes, What Religious Science Teaches (Los Angeles: Science of Mind Publications, 1975) p. 61.

2 Ibid., p. 64.

3 Ibid., p. 65.

4 Ernest Holmes, A Dictionary of New Thought Terms (Marina del Rey, California: DeVorss Publications, 1991) p. 28.

5 Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind (New York: R.M McBride and Co., 1938, New York: Penguin Putnam, Inc., rev. and enl. ed., 1966) p. 362 (page citation is to reprint edition).

The origin and Nature of Man

United Church of Religious Science (Dr. Ernest Holmes): “There is something Divine about us that we have overlooked. There is more to us than we realize. Man is an eternal destiny, a forever-expanding principle of conscious intelligence…the ocean in the drop of water, the sun in its rays. Man, the real man, is birthless, deathless, changeless; and God, as man, in man, IS man!”¹ “Man is the Self-Knowingness of God; the Consciousness of God in execution; the Action of God moving into fulfillment; the Thought of God seeking self-expression.”²

1 Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind (New York: R.M McBride and Co., 1938, New York: Penguin Putnam, Inc., rev. and enl. ed., 1966) p. 388 (page citation is to reprint edition).

2 Ernest Holmes, A Dictionary of New Thought Terms (Marina del Rey, California: DeVorss Publications, 1991) p. 86.

The Nature of Salvation, Liberation or Enlightenment

United Church of Religious Science (Dr. Ernest Holmes): “We have tried to show that there is no sin but a mistake and no punishment but a consequence. The Law of cause and effect. Sin is merely missing the mark. God does not punish sin. As we correct our mistakes, we forgive our own sins.”¹ “True salvation comes only through true enlightenment, through a more conscious and more complete union of our lives with the Invisible.”² Dr. Holmes also offered, “When any individual recognizes his true union with the Infinite, he automatically becomes the Christ.”³

1 Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind (New York: R.M McBride and Co., 1938, New York: Penguin Putnam, Inc., rev. and enl. ed., 1966) p. 633 (page citation is to reprint edition).

2 Ernest Holmes, What Religious Science Teaches (Los Angeles, California: Science of Mind Publications, 1975) p. 25.

3 Ibid., p. 65.

Dimensions or Planes of Existence

United Church of Religious Science (Dr. Ernest Holmes): Teaches the following concerning heaven and hell. Heaven is defined as “Harmony-Wholeness-Health-Physical Well-being-Happiness-Mental peace, poise, and well-being.”¹ Hell (Hades or Sheol) is defined as “Symbolic of the lower plane of consciousness. The torment of experiencing that which contradicts Truth.”² It is “the underworld,” the “drama of the soul in its conflict with opposing desires and state of consciousness before the transition from the lower to the higher plane of perception.”³

1 Ernest Holmes, “Heaven,” A Dictionary of New Thought Terms (Marina del Rey, California: DeVorss Publications, 1991) p. 58.

2 Ibid., “Hell,” p. 58.

3 Ibid., “Hades,” p. 56.

Cycles, Ages and the Ultimate State of the Universe

United Church of Religious Science (Dr. Ernest Holmes): The biblical phrase, “world without end” (Ephesians 3:21) is interpreted as referring to “the endless creation of the Almighty. Particular worlds will always begin and end…but creation itself-the necessity of God manifesting Himself in time and in space-will never end. If creation could end, then God would end.”¹

1 Ernest Holmes, The Science of Mind (New York: R.M McBride and Co., 1938, New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putman, a member of Penguin Putnam, Inc., rev. and enl. ed., 1966) pp. 492-493 (page citation is to reprint edition).

Back to the Top