Reflections on the Christian Church’s Attitude Towards Disabilities (including autism)

I have been a Christian for most of my life. However, I’m sad to say , it is my personal belief that the most hostile and least caring environment for many autistic individuals and their families is the local Christian church. Why is this so? Should loving your neighbour exclude autistic people, simply because they are different? Did Jesus say “let the children come to me, and do not stop them (unless they are autistic )?”

I have heard so many people who have been excluded or driven out of their church family because they happen to be autistic or parents of autistic children. Some of is overt, and deliberate discrimination, but much of this is covert and based on lack of understanding and failing to accept or adapt to the social and sensory differences of autistic people.

Some of these negative attitudes stem from the Christian Church’s traditional attitudes towards disability in general.

Throughout the history of Christianity, attitudes towards disability (and difference) have varied greatly. In parts of the Bible, physical disability is portrayed as a punishment for sin. In the writings of the New Testament, Jesus performed many miracles, including healing the disabled. Some Christians still identify sin as the cause of disability. Although the Bible makes no reference to intellectual disability, still today there are Christians who believe that autism, like other illnesses and disabilities exists as a punishment for sin.

In contrast , Jesus describes disability as not being due to a person’s sin, or those of the parents, but “happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

In the Middle Ages, some scholars and priests continued to believe that disability was a punishment from God for committing sins, and would find Biblical texts to support their arguments. Others however, took the view that that those with disabilities were more pious than non-disabled people. For example consider the case of Brother Juniper.

One of Saint Francis of Assisi’s original followers, Brother Juniper was well loved by Francis for his devotion and profound humility. However, according to the Little Flower of St. Francis, Juniper did not always understand the accepted standards of social interaction.

Once while visiting a sick friar, Juniper asked him if he could be of any service. The friar asked for pig’s feet to eat, as it would give him great consolation. Brother Juniper, feeling compelled to help the sick friar, took a knife from the kitchen, went into the forest and found a group of pigs feeding. Juniper caught one of the pigs, swiftly cut a leg off, and ran back to the kitchen to prepare it (leaving the rest of the pig in the forest). Unknown to Juniper, the man in charge of the pigs was standing there watching it all happen and quickly informed his master of the situation.

When St. Francis confronted Brother Juniper, he was entirely confused why the master of the pigs would be upset at what he did. In Juniper’s mind, he was doing a charitable deed and there was nothing wrong with cutting off a pig’s foot to help someone else out. Brother Juniper was eventually able to win over the angry master with his humility and simplicity.

There are many other similar stories regarding Brother Juniper’s inability to recognize social cues that make it possible he was “on the autism spectrum.” In the end, despite his apparent defects, Saint Francis was famous for saying, “Would to God, my brothers, I had a whole forest of such Junipers.”

Martin Luther, however, held the view that disability was caused by sin, and is recorded to have recommended to the Prince of Dessau that a young boy with disabilities be drowned. When this suggestion was rebuked, Luther told the prince that Christians should pray for the Devil to be removed from the boy every day.

Today, disability is still linked with sin in some denominations of the church and in some cultures where Christianity is the predominant religion, particularly in some African nations, including Ghana and Ethiopia.

In Ghana, people with mental illnesses and neurological disorders are routinely sent to prayer camps linked with Evangelical and Pentecostal churches to try to overcome their disorders. In some of these camps, people may be chained to objects for prolonged periods, deprived of food and provided with poor sanitation. Disabled Christians also also report feeling unwelcome when attending church.

Such cultural behaviours are not mutually exclusive to darkest Africa. Many families of children with disabilities in the USA report feeling excluded from Church services because of the attitudes of other members of the congregation. Furthermore, Christian groups often support so called “miracle cures” for autism including forcing children to swallow or be injected with bleach, prevented from taking life-saving vaccinations and “miracle pills” akin to the snake oil pedlars of the Wild West!

Before us Brits wring our hands and think ourselves superior and more educated in our attitudes towards disability, prejudice and ignorance remains in many churches and congregations in good old blighty!

Some of this stems from traditional adverse attitudes and misconceptions towards autism. For example:

-Autistic people may be pre-considered to be dangerous, disruptive or present socially inappropriate behaviours

-Autistic people, or their behaviours, may be misinterpreted as tantrums, or signs of mental illness or craziness

-Autistic people might be regarded with fear, suspicion, punishment

-Autistic people may be directly, or indirectly, excluded or ostracised by the Church or congregation

There are estimated to be more than 700,000 autistic people in the UK, but it could be over 1 million as many remain undiagnosed, or are are discovered later in life. Statistically therefore, there are likely to be about 80 autistic people in the average parish.

There is, consequently , a likelihood of autistic people already in any local church undertaking any number of roles. It is unlikely that many would have notified the church or congregation of their autism for fear of rejection, ridicule or criticism. Many fear the responses, because of the myths, born out of ignorance and misunderstanding of what it means to be autistic. Or, they may not even yet realise that they are on the autistic spectrum; many are discovered later in life.

Is autism a good thing for our churches? Yes! If a church is to grow , it must not exclude, potentially over 1% of the population on the grounds of their disability or neurodiversity.

If you want to discover more about what it is like to be autistic, and how you can support autistic individuals and their families in worship, education or employment please comment below or contact me through my website?https://wired4autism.co.uk.

And remember, we autistics are different, not less, we simply have a different operating system, which is pretty cool!