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SPIRITUAL CARE OF THE INSANE
fluence must be receptive and capable of response before his
ministries can have effect. It is important, therefore, to wait
patiently until the working of inward spiritual processes opens
the doors of the patient’s mind and heart to whatever message he
needs to receive.
Spiritual Influence and Religious Propaganda
Religious influence is exercised by a religious person whether
he is aware of it or not. Intentional religious teaching is too
often concerned with matters of opinion or interpretation. It is
designed to shape the thinking of another person in conformity
with one’s own. It is usually informed with less reverence for
| spiritual freedom than for traditional views and well-established
religious ideas; in short, it is a form of propaganda.
The word propaganda can, of course, be misused. It does not
include every kind of conscious religious influence or intentional
guidance. We use it here because it does conveniently define the
kind of religious instruction that is most inappropiate when
dealing with the mentally diseased. There are forms of Christian
counsel that can properly be used: the preaching of the Word
and instruction and guidance in the use of the means of Grace.
As long as the person who dispenses these means meets the sick
person as a fellow human being whom he sincerely desires to
help he remains a spiritual counsellor. That is what he should be,
not a ‘religious agitator’. The form of Christianity that consists
only of moral prohibitions and rules of conduct, that talks of
Divine love but traffics in fear, is worse than useless to the
mentally ill. But that Christianity which is firmly grounded in
knowledge of the redemptive love of God and knows the
meaning of forgiveness, has a message that mentally diseased people
deeply need. After several years of personal experience as a
spiritual adviser in a mental hospital, the writer of this book is
more firmly convinced than ever that people struggling with
mental affliction derive marked benefit from a positive spiritual
ministry.
Many psychiatrists share this view. Gadelius, for instance,
considers that in cases of a suitable kind for psychotherapeutic
treatment, Christian counsel can often do more good than the .
psychotherapy of a physician without religious sympathies. He
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