Sunday Meditation . . .

"As [Jesus] went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?' Jesus answered: 'Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him.'" Gospel According to St. John 9:1-3 (NRSV).

My brother is subject to a degenerative genetic disorder, which is passed through mothers, but almost always affects only sons. Other family members have researched this disorder, and tell me it is called Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease. My brother has never walked, and the disorder is degenerative -- meaning that he gradually can do fewer things and has less control over his muscles. Beginning from my maternal grandmother, there have been five men born into the genetic line. I am one of two who are not affected by Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease.

This genetic fact makes the passage from St. John very relevant to me. I have been told many times that in the time and place where Jesus Christ spoke, the common perception was that physical infirmity was a mark of spiritual judgment. One of the things that changed through the life and teaching of Jesus Christ was that a new paradigm of physical infirmity began to take root in the Judeo-Christian culture -- one where physical imperfection was no longer a mark of spiritual judgment.

In the late 19th century, Western medicine began to refine its understanding of the role that physical changes in the brain play in our psychological makeup. Throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century we understand increasingly more about how our brain functions as a physical entity. Although I know it is very complex, a good deal of our personality and our perceptions of the world relies on the proper functioning of that physical organ inside our heads.

With this greater understanding of the physical nature of our thoughts and perceptions, I think that the passage from St. John should be applied to more than just physical infirmity. In fact, I think it should be definitely applied to the psychological problems humans suffer.

Depression, for example, is not a result of weak faith, or spiritual malaise. It is a chemical imbalance in the brain. (Or that's my guess -- I am no psychologist or psychiatrist.)

When a person is despairing, it does not help that person if they also believe that they are also spiritually abandoned - or cursed of God. . . . I have heard tell of certain very religious individuals whose depression or worse came from their sense that they had committed the "unpardonable sin" - or were otherwise cut off from God. (Of course, this might be more of a "chicken and egg" question -- since I am not sure if the sense of being cut off from God followed or precipitated the despair and depression.)

It is time (and past time) that mental disorders are treated more scientifically by the religiously conservative. Someone with schizophrenia needs to be treated with medication, not deemed to be possessed by demons. Or . . . to avoid excluding either approach, they need to be treated both spiritually and medically.

But it is long past time to end the sort of damage done when pastors or well-meaning lay persons attempt to treat mental disorders as exclusively spiritual problems. The more enlightened portions of Christendom recognize it, but really the conservatives need to think hard about how they apply Jesus Christ's teachings to matters of mental illness.