One disturbing aspect of religion is its desire to be the answer to all of life’s problems, many of which should be dealt with by medical or psychological professionals. It seems like most pastors fancy themselves licensed therapists who possess the ability to fix people’s problems with a few short counseling sessions. When those sessions are not enough they ask people to live in a group-home style church program. In the pastor’s mind, they are god-ordained to come to the rescue, so there is no doubt they are one-hundred percent correct all the time.

In the Assemblies of God denomination, we had a program called Teen Challenge that attempts to re-educate teens and young adults who were addicted to drugs, alcoholics, gang members, and prostitutes. It would attempt to heal people of serious drug addictions by brain washing with scripture verses. Every weekend they take the group of struggling teens to rich suburban churches to share their testimony, sing, and ask for money. I remember every year our church would get the Teen Challenge Choir. My mother would always make comments about how she wouldn’t want to see me end up like them. Overall, Teen Challenge is a mildly successful system . . . while people are in the program, as soon as they quit or are released the power of Christ is not able to keep most of these people from going right back to their former habits. I wonder why that is?

Teen Challenge is one of the biggest organizations like this, but there are many others. I just read a horrible story about one such group in Riverside County, California. The Heart of Worship Community Church was running a group home for men as a part of their “Re-Entry Program” of the Fire Escape Ministries. Not only are they criminal in their inability to provide the types of services needed for people with serious mental problems and drug addictions, they also lie and cream the data to make their programs look more effective. Look at this screenshot from a quiz on Re-Entry’s website, where they claim their group is much more effective than secular rehabilitation groups at keeping graduates from going back to old habits.

Maybe they are so successful because they bury the failures in the desert . . . more on that to come.

A mother who was a member of the church decided her troublesome 13-year-old son needed some discipline because he had been misbehaving so she turned him over to Pastor Lonny Remmers. The articles I read about this didn’t mention if the boy had a serious behavioral issues or if he was just a little bit rambunctious so we don’t know. Neither did the pastor. He was unqualified to know if this boy suffered from any real psychological or medical problems. He assumed this was a problem he could solve, you know what they say, “When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.” Unfortunately, Remmers subscribes to the horrific torture school of thought when it comes to discipline, so his hammer probably came in useful from time to time.

Court documents highlight some of the abuse this boy suffered – Remmers took him to the desert forcing him to dig his own grave, beat him with a belt, and threw dirt on him. After this incident, the boy was taken back to the group home where he had salt rubbed into cuts on his back while attempting to shower. There were reports of the pastor twisting the boy’s nipples with pliers at a group home bible study. The boy also told police that on one occasion he was tied to a chair and sprayed with pepper spray; he recalls that he was not allowed to wash the spray off his face for over an hour and began to bleed from the irritation.

This last form of “discipline” is particular horrible for me to imagine because I have been sprayed with pepper spray before during a training exercise; it is uncomfortable to say the least. When I was sprayed, I only had the spray on my face for a few minutes and was then allowed to wash off. Even though I washed off, the spray my eyes and skin on my face burned for about an hour before I was able to see straight again. For the rest of the night my skin felt like it had been sunburned. I cannot imagine how much more painful it would be to be tied to a chair and have to sit with the spray on my face for that long of a time . . . hellish, to say the least.

Thankfully, Remmers and his cohorts are being dealt with criminally for their unconventional methods of Christian discipleship. This story is a perfect example of why people should never go to pastors for help with serious issues. Pastors are not qualified to deal with behavioral issues. Some are obviously sick in the head, like Remmers, but even the good ones who really want to help people don’t know what they are doing. There is no magical man in the sky guiding them and directing their actions; it is just an unqualified person trying to help people who need professional help.

On Thursday April 26, 2012, the Lincoln County, Oklahoma 911 dispatch received a phone call to report the death of a 4-year-old boy named Troy Damelio. Troy’s parents, Joe and Melinda Damelio, told the police their son had a fever for about a week, but they never took the boy to the doctor because of their religious beliefs.

Investigators are awaiting autopsy results to determine the cause of death, but I have a strong suspicion it’s related to religion. Whatever the actual physical illness the boy suffered from will be determined, but the likelihood it could have been treated successfully by doctors is nearly one-hundred percent. The irrational beliefs, the mindless faith, it causes people to do things a normal, sane person would not . . . like watching your child die in your arms without even calling for an ambulance. Many children have died needlessly because their parents had an unbending belief in god’s healing powers. Troy is the most recent child in this depressing list, and every one of their parents believed prayers would be more effective than the ER.

The death is under investigation by Lincoln County Sheriff Charlie Dougherty. In his comments to the media, Dougherty said they were informed the family attends a church called “Church of the Firstborn.” Its members are known to avoid seeking medical attention. Instead they follow the teaching of James 5:14 exclusively in medical matters, “Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.”

The denomination’s website deals with the legalities of not getting medical care for children by stating this: “If you choose not to take your child to a doctor, then, we urge you, to immediately notify the county health department and the state department of human services.” The church provides forms for parents to submit to these agencies stating they are welcome to examine the child any time. This is much better than most faith healing churches, but obviously it didn’t translate to practical action on the part of Troy Damelio’s parents. It gets the church off the hook though, and my guess is that’s why they put it in their by-laws. While they instruct followers to “call for elders to pray and anoint with oil,” I’m guessing the “make sure you notify the authorities you are neglecting your child” aspect gets glossed over as an easily omitted asterisk.

Troy’s parents had the sincere faith God was going to heal him of his illness, but regardless of their beliefs, they could be charged with manslaughter if the district attorney believes Joe and Melinda acted negligent. The worst thing about this type of situation is the children do not have a voice; they are helpless. Troy Damelio had no consent to being treated solely by faith healing, but it is all he got because he had neglectful parents, parents who put their faith in Jesus’ magic healing wounds over modern medical treatment. I really hope the district attorney charges them to the full extent of the law. The Damelios also have another son, a 1-year-old child named Luke. Let’s hope Child Protective Services doesn’t allow Luke to be exposed to the same disregard.