How can religion support the mentally ill?...

Ok, so I admit to a little prejudice here.  I think that religious institutions have an issue with anybody who is different.  Religious institutions in general are into conformity and not really OK with change.  Now, of course, there are exceptions to that ‘rule’.  Some religious institutions are more open.  They operate with compassion.  But you only have to know about the ones who don’t to think that maybe church is not the place to deal with an issue like mental illness.  (I am going to give an extreme example here…anybody ever hear of Westboro Baptist Church picketing funerals?)  So, I am going to make an effort and try to forget the more fundamentalist reactions of some religious institutions to human realities.  I won’t wonder about the response of a conservative church or temple to someone struggling.  I will assume that the churches and temples that I am talking about have a desire to be there for the people struggling.

The article that I am going to talk about today was written by an evangelistic pastor by the name of Ed Stetzer. He heads up an organization called Lifeway Research. I don’t really know who this pastor is or what he stands for, so I am going to have to accept what he says on general terms.  The article link is here:  http://bit.ly/1441n5B  He wrote this article in response to the death of Matthew Warren, son of Pastor Rick Warren. Rick Warren operates an evangelistic church. In another article, I discussed how this death is evidence that mental illness can strike all of us. Now, here was the wonderful part of the article written by Pastor Stetzer.  He discusses how churches can respond to mental illness in a way that is supportive. He shares an experience that he had with a mentally ill congregant who eventually killed himself. And he talks about how church is a natural place to minister to the needs of the mentally ill. I can certainly agree with that.  I do think that churches can be a key tool in providing the support that helps those with mental illness to normalize.

Then he talks about what churches have to do to support congregants suffering with mental illness. 

The most important thing he discussed was:  “We need to end the shame.”  Not to be silly here, but AMEN BROTHER!!  When mental illness is something to be “handled in the dark”, it has a lot more power than it needs to.  If people know that they will be dealt with in a loving and accepting manner, then they are more likely to seek help. This is true in society generally, and in our churches and temples in particular. It appears that this pastor has experience with this issue on a personal and professional level. He has seen that hiding mental illness leads in one direction---to death. He has a family history of suicide.  He talked about an aunt in Ireland who was arrested for gun smuggling. And her involvement in the “Irish revolution” eventually led to suicide.  He is clear that this involvement had a lot to do with underlying mental illness.

Many people have a family history.  That is obvious from the fact that there are many people who struggle with mental illness.  So, we do need to address the shame.  We need to be aware of how the attitudes of the people around a mentally ill person can have a huge impact on the progression of the disease.  And we need to see the people around us who are suffering.  To do that, we need to continue to explore our attitudes about mental illness and treatment.  We need to check our judgments at the door and be open.  Finally, we need to be aware that this is not an issue that has just reared its ugly head in our ‘permissive’ society.  People have lived and died with mental illness throughout history.  It seems to me that it is time that human beings finally wrapped their heads around that fact.  Religious institutions can be a leader in that effort. Hope you feel the same way.