Schizophrenia and the Church

When I was a young man I got involved in the Church. While I was a member of this particular Church a very good friend of mine developed schizophrenia. The first thing I was told was that my friend was possessed by demons and spirits. That there was no hope for this person and this person was on their way down to hell. The sad thing about the whole thing was that the Christians there had me convinced that this was true.

Meanwhile I was developing schizophrenia myself. When my schizophrenia got to the point where it was in full bloom and I started using drugs and alcohol again I was told the same thing about me. They told me that I was full of demons and spirits. This was after I left the Church. I was having difficulty living up to my religious beliefs because of my mental illness so rather than being a hypocrite I left.

A few years later I met a fellow and he attended a Church. We became very good friends. I started going to Church with him. I told him right up front the day we met that I had schizophrenia. This fellow showed me a book called "Pigs in the Parlor". It was about people that had schizophrenia were possessed by demons. In fact a whole legion of demons. Every symptom of the illness was caused by a different demon. Of course he told me that I was full of demons.

For awhile there he had me convinced that it was true. This had a very negative impact on my mental health which wasn't very good in the first place due to my schizophrenia. I started asking around looking for a Minister that performed exorcisms. I was in a big mess mentally and psychologically. After awhile I muddled through all this and came to the point where I no longer believed that I was possessed by demons. By the grace of God I came to believe this. Even though I still suffered from the symptoms of my illness believing that I was not possessed by demons brought some relief mentally and psychologically.

A few years later I was with a Christian from the first Church I was involved with. He even went as far to say that the Schizophrenia Society was of the devil. This really upset me. When I went home I told my Mom about this. She got angry, called him up, to tell him off. Didn't he deny that he said this. Not only did I experience stigma and discrimination from him but outright denied it. He wouldn't even admit to my Mom that he was prejudiced against those with mental illness.

At the present moment I'm writing this my schizophrenia is pretty much in remission. I still have my Christian beliefs. I would like to go back to the same Church I first started with but I can't because of the stigma and discrimination.

I need to find a Church that does not believe that mental illness is caused by demon possession and does believe that mental illness is a real biological disease. But that is still not good enough. I would probably still encounter other forms of stigma and discrimination there. I probably would not be accepted by the Church community. I would be left out in the cold there. They probably wouldn't even talk to me let alone have fellowship with me there.

Look at the gay community. They were rejected, stigmatized, and discriminated against by the Church. But they solved the problem. They started getting together all across this great country of ours and started their own Churches. So now we have gay people able to get together, worship God together, have fellowship together, and help and encourage one another with their Christian faith and walk.

I've been entertaining similar thoughts. Why don't we consumers get together and start our own Churches. Get together, worship God, have fellowship together, and help and encourage one another in our Christian faith and walk. Not only that if people that are not consumers want to attend our Churches we would gladly receive them into our Churches and let them be members if they so please.

But there is an obstacle. Consumers that believe in Christianity need to find each other so that they can get together and start our Churches.

We don't need ordained Ministers and we don't need to pay our Ministers a salary. We can all share in giving sermons at Church services. Those that have a gift for it. We can organize the way we want our Churches to be governed. Eventually have our Churches scattered all over this great country of ours. Why Not? The gay community did it. Why can't we?