Editing Augusta Emma Stetson (section)

==Excommunication and later years==
Because Stetson's church in New York was the largest and richest Christian Science church in the world at the time, many people within and without the movement saw her as Eddy's obvious successor as leader of the Christian Science church, a position Stetson clearly saw herself in as well, and to many it was only a question of whether she would be appointed or institute a coup. This was of concern to Eddy, who took opportunities to make it clear that she would not appoint Stetson as her successor.<ref name=gill/>{{rp|535,536.}} Eddy had maintained a regular correspondence with Stetson since she had gone to New York, and had consistently and increasingly chastised Stetson for her radical views, especially for Stetson's comparisons between Eddy and Jesus Christ.<ref name=gill/>{{rp|535,694.}} Eddy tried one last time to bring Stetson back into the fold in December of 1908, inviting her to her home in Massachusetts to talk.<ref name=gill/>{{rp|538.}} Stetson expressed repentance to Eddy, and said she would not build any branch churches to rival the Mother Church. However, in 1909, Stetson again sent Eddy a worshiping letter to the point of heresy.<ref name=gill/>{{rp|538,539.}} It was the last straw, and Eddy asked the Board of Directors of the Mother Church to investigate Stetson and the conditions of her New York church.<ref name="swihart"/>{{rp|365.}}<ref name=gill/>{{rp|538,539.}} She also wrote to Stetson, telling her to "awake" from the temptation to deify her.<ref name="gott"/>{{rp|372.}}

The Board conducted an investigation over months of interviews, calling practitioners and officials from the New York church. In addition to what the Board already knew, they found Stetson had told her inner circle that her New York church was the only true Christian Science church in the world, that Lathrop should die, and that the Mother Church was corrupted by the devil.<ref name=swensen10/>{{rp|9.}} It was revealed that in 1901, Stetson and some of her followers had lied under oath during a lawsuit. Some of her other radical views included that sex and procreation were evil, and that she attempted to "control and to injure persons by mental means."<ref name="swihart"/>{{rp|365.}}<ref name="gray"/>

A particularly important witness was Virgil O. Strickler, a lawyer from Omaha who had moved to New York and joined Stetson's church in 1906, and who by 1909 was serving as the First Reader in Stetson's church.{{efn|Although Virgil O. Strickler is best known for his involvement in the Stetson case, he later became a Christian Science lecturer and teacher ([[Christian Science practitioner|CSB]]), giving lectures with titles such as "Christian Science: A Religion of Love"<ref>Strickler, Virgil (1913) [https://journal.christianscience.com/shared/view/1gfwqn3065s?s=e Christian Science: A Religion of Love]</ref> and "Christian Science: A Religion That Heals Through Spiritual Law".<ref>Strickler, Virgil (1917) [https://sentinel.christianscience.com/shared/view/2km7x4kg9y8?s=e Christian Science: A Religion That Heals Through Spiritual Law]</ref>}}<ref name=gott/>{{rp|375.}}<ref name=gill/>{{rp|540.}}As First Reader, he was invited into Stetson's private meetings with her inner circle, and had begun keeping a diary of what was said in them after becoming disturbed by what he heard during the meetings.<ref name=gott/>{{rp|375.}} His diary included entries on the fear Stetson's inner circle had of her; her hatred of other churches in New York; that Stetson now believed Eddy was God and that Stetson herself was Christ; and how she tried to harm and even kill others through hypnotism, even at one point unsuccessfully attempting to hypnotize Strickler himself in a "sing-song" voice.<ref name=gott/>{{rp|375-377.}} The Directors used his diary to frame yes or no questions for Stetson's inner circle in order to get straight answers from them.<ref name=gott/>{{rp|375.}}

In the fall of 1909, the Board revoked Stetsons license as a Christian Science teacher and practitioner, and soon afterwards called Stetson for a personal examination, after which they dropped her name from membership in the church.<ref name="swihart"/>{{rp|365.}}<ref name="brit"/><ref name=gill/>{{rp|541.}} Stetson's own church, though divided, was persuaded by a timely letter by Eddy to side with the Mother Church in Boston, accepting Stetson's resignation and expelling a number of officials who had sided with her.<ref name="swihart"/>{{rp|365.}}<ref name="gott"/>{{rp|377.}} As one historian wrote: "Such had been the turmoil caused by the case, and so shocking had been the evidence against Mrs. Stetson, that all but a few of her closest associates accepted the banishment with more relief than protest."<ref name=gill>{{cite book |last1=Gill |first1=Gillian |title=Mary Baker Eddy |date=1998 |publisher=Perseus Books |location=Reading, Mass |isbn=9780738200422 |url=https://archive.org/details/marybakereddyrad00gill/page/534/mode/2up}}</ref>{{rp|541.}} In a reversal from the previous antagonism with Second Church, The new First Church leadership announced that the Thanksgiving service that year would be combined with Second Church's.<ref name=gray/>{{efn|Nearly one hundred years later in 2004, the two churches merged, retaining the name First Church but moving into Second Church's building.<ref name=gray/><ref name=barron/>}}

===Church Triumphant and radio station===
Stetson still retained some support, and continued to live in her mansion next to First Church, instructing students who had remained loyal to her.<ref name="swihart"/>{{rp|366.}} She claimed that Eddy was still on her side, and that Eddy's actions were actually a way to free her from the Mother Church,<ref name="gott"/>{{rp|377.}} or that Eddy was merely testing her.<ref name="swihart"/>{{rp|366.}} She came to believe her mission was to create a more "spiritual" version of Christian Science, which she called the "Church Triumphant."<ref name=mchenry/><ref name="swihart"/>{{rp|366.}} When Eddy died in 1910, Stetson declared that she believed Eddy would rise from the grave like Jesus and appear to her personally before appearing to the rest of the world, a claim Stetson would repeat for the rest of her life. It became a national news story and Christian Scientists, including the Christian Science Board of Directors itself, repeatedly denounced these proclamations as [[heresy|heretical]].<ref name="swihart"/>{{rp|366.}}<ref>{{cite news|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1910-12-30/ed-1/seq-1/|title=Mrs. Eddy will Rise|date=1910-12-30|publisher=[[New York Tribune]]|pages=1, 2|access-date=2009-09-04}} (responses from a former student and from Alfred Farlow of the Mother Church on page 2)</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Safronoff |first1=Cindy P. |title=Dedication: Building the Seattle Branches of Mary Baker Eddy's Church |date=2020 |publisher=this one thing |location=Seattle |page=83}}</ref> Stetson was, as one historian put it, an "incurable mythomaniac" and that "nothing she says, especially about herself, can be taken at face value", and she even went so far as to reassemble [[photostat]]s of handwritten letters from Eddy to make herself look good.<ref name=gill/>{{rp|693.}}{{efn|Stetson had a largely negative impact on biographies of Eddy. In particular, Stetson was a main source for a book attacking Eddy by Edwin Dakin.<ref name=gill/>{{rp|534, 693.}}}}

Stetson published pamphlets advocating her "Church Triumphant" and attacking the Mother Church, and spent a significant amount of her followers' money promoting her views in newspapers. She also started a short lived magazine called ''American Standard'' in order to "guard and foster [[White supremacy|Nordic supremacy]] in America" which in 1925 merged with a radio station bought for her by her students.<ref name="swihart"/>{{rp|366.}} The station broadcast "an extraordinary mixture of [[Proto-fascism|protofascist]] propaganda and classical music."<ref name=gill/>{{rp|694.}} The station, known as WHAP for "We Hold America Protestant", and officially owned by a group of Stetson's students who called themselves the Defenders of Truth Society, was known for being overtly [[Anti-Catholicism|anti-Catholic]] and [[Antisemitism|anti-Semitic]], and was often the subject of controversy. William Taylor, a Stetson follower who was the official licensee for the station, was expelled from the Mother Church for his involvement, and the Mother Church issued a circular denouncing WHAP's anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish broadcasts.<ref name="jaker">Jaker, Bill; Sulek, Frank; Kanze, Peter (2015) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ACckCQAAQBAJ The Airwaves of New York: Illustrated Histories of 156 AM Stations in the Metropolitan Area, 1921-1996]''. McFarland. pp. 79-80.</ref> Stetson's former church in New York condemned her for the station, saying that she was in "no way connected with the Christian Science movement" and that the church opposed all "attacks on other religions or religionists."<ref name="jta">{{cite news |title=N.Y. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE COMMITTEE DISAVOWS PART IN MRS. STETSON'S ATTACKS |url=https://www.jta.org/1927/03/16/archive/meer-grossman-received-by-polish-vice-premier |publisher=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |date=16 March 1927}}</ref> In 1927, Stetson predicted her own immortality,<ref name="mchenry"/><ref name="gray"/><ref name="jaker"/> and in 1928, shortly before her death, she announced she was withdrawing from her radio station.<ref name="jaker"/> Stetson died on October 12, 1928, in [[Rochester, New York]].<ref name="brit"/>