In my previous article, I explained that Christians are not exempt from suffering, including in the area of mental health. We can have compassion for those fighting inner battles and welcome them into our churches with love.

Unfortunately, ignorance, stigma and fear still surround the topic of mental health. It is difficult to admit the existence of challenges we wish did not exist, especially when they affect how we think and perceive the world.

And Christians can be even more prejudiced, assuming that believers do not suffer in this area, pressuring people to hide their pain in order to ‘give a good witness’, or simplistically associating suffering with sin and the work of the Devil. Their intentions may be good, but they end up adding guilt and religious pressure to those who are already suffering, exacerbating their pain. 

Challenging simplistic assumptions

The Bible transforms our understanding of suffering, helping us to move from judgmentalism to compassion, and from the humiliation of those who suffer to their inclusion in the community of faith.

For example, at first the priest Eli dismissed Hannah’s suffering, thinking she was talking to herself because she was drunk. But when she explained that ‘I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief,’ he recognised her faith and changed his attitude: ‘Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him’ (1 Samuel 1:12-17).

The Book of Job challenges the simplistic correlation between suffering and sin. Friends frame his pain within a mechanical cause-and-effect relationship to ‘help’ him get out of it: ‘Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you’ (Job 22:21). But Job recognises that human suffering is far more complex and that his believing friends were doing more harm than good.

 ‘Anyone who withholds kindness from a friend

    forsakes the fear of the Almighty…

Now you too have proved to be of no help;

    you see something dreadful and are afraid’ (Job 6:14, 21).

The anatomy of religious stigma

The biblical story that best contrasts religious stigma with Jesus’ compassion is the healing of the man born blind in John 9. Jesus sees his affliction as an opportunity to bring glory to God and restores the man’s sight on the Sabbath (John 9:3–6). But we can observe various facets of religious stigma in the attitudes of the disciples, the neighbours, the blind man’s parents and the Pharisees who examine him.

Prejudice: the disciples demonstrate a simplistic association of the illness with sin when they ask Jesus: ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ (John 9:2). And the Pharisees do not consider Jesus’ act of healing a work of God because it takes place on the Sabbath, saying, ‘This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath’ (John 9:16a).

Denial: some of the neighbours do not believe in the miracle. The Pharisees also ‘still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents’ (John 9:18). And the mechanism of denial is built upon a gross oversimplification, which divides reality into people and events that are ‘of God’ or ‘not of God.’

Division: rather than leading to gratitude, the healing of the blind man divides his neighbours: ‘Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.” But he himself insisted, “I am the man”’ (John 9:9). The Pharisees also end up divided about Jesus. ‘Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided’ (John 9:16).

Coercion: the Pharisees’ unbelief leads them to abuse their religious authority and coerce the man into rejecting the facts and conforming to their religious stigma. ‘A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner”’ (John 9:24).

Abdication of responsibility: faced with such pressure, the blind man’s parents do not fully defend their son, for they fear suffering religious exclusion and being expelled from the synagogue (John 9:20–23).

Humiliation and religious exclusion: faced with the blind man’s insistence on the facts – that he had been born blind and had been healed that day – the Pharisees preferred to reject reality rather than rethink their religious stigma. ‘Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! … You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out’ (John 9:28, 34).

Spiritual blindness: what is the moral of the story? The blind man sees, and the Pharisees reveal their own spiritual blindness! ‘Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind”’ (John 9:39).

From stigma to compassion

This story concerns the healing of a physical ailment, yet it highlights the religious stigma that still today associates mental health issues with sin, lack of faith, curses and the work of the Devil. Many people suffering in this area feel misunderstood, judged or pressured to deny their pain, particularly in religious settings.

In discussing this biblical passage, the authors of Struggling with God: Mental Health & Christian Spirituality affirm:

‘The story refers to a physical disability, but it is typical of the way in which stigma works and attaches itself to various conditions. When we come to mental health, many who struggle with mental health challenges report similar experiences to the ones in this passage: they may be told that they are not spiritual enough, or praying enough, or trying hard enough, not believing the right things, not having enough faith – all of which are simply different versions of the disciples’ question, “Who sinned?” ... Christian theology or spirituality can help to overcome such challenges, and there are ways in which they can make life more difficult. Disabling theologies, and theologies that reinforce stigma, need to be identified and rebutted. It is hard enough struggling with depression without being told that it is due to your lack of faith. The challenge of schizophrenia is only made worse by being told that it is due to demonic influence... A person struggling with mental illness may actually be flourishing in faith, hope and love... The Christian spirituality that is worth its name is to be found struggling with Jesus in Gethsemane and on Calvary, in the hope of sharing also in his resurrection.’ [1]

Christians are not spared from adversity, including in the area of mental health. But we suffer with hope and with the help of people who love us! Our churches should be places of welcome, rather than places of denial, coercion and humiliation for those who suffer.

René Breuel, evangelical pastor, author in Rome. 

Notes

[1] Christopher C. J. Cook, Isabelle Hamley, and John Swinson, Struggling with God: Mental Health & Christian Spirituality (SPCK, 2023), 24, 131, 134.

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