Christian sanism

Last updated 1/1/2025

Sanism refers to ableism towards insane people.

1. Suicide and thinking about it are often presented as awful and sinful.

Uncritical examples

Is suicide a sin? by John Shore (July 2014)

Archived on Wayback Machine, Archive.today, and Ghost Archive

A Biblical Response to Mental Illness and Suicide: What Should We Conclude by Ab Abercrombie | Biblical Counseling Institute (April 2013)

Archived on Wayback Machine, Archive.today, and Ghost Archive

Commentary

Suicidal Thoughts Are Symptoms, Not Sins! | Sarah Over The Moon (July 2014)

2. Some Christians believe that being ”saved” means you should be happy. Because of this, they treat unhappiness as a sign of sin.

Go ahead and guess how well this works out for clinically depressed people.

Uncritical examples:

Hope for the Unhappy Christian by Phillip Holmes | Desiring God (March 2016)

Archived on Wayback Machine, Archive.today, and Ghost Archive

Should Christians Be Happy? | MacPhail's Manuscripts (earliest archives are from January 2002)

Archived on Wayback Machine

How Not To Let Negative People And Circumstances Steal Your Joy by Ann Schuler | Patch (January 2014)

Archived on Wayback Machine, Archive.today, and Ghost Archive

Commentary:

I knew Desiring God ideology is spiritual abuse, but wow. | Tell me why the world is weird (May 2017)

3. Depressed people are often portrayed as not trying hard enough, ungrateful towards God, or even demon-possessed. Sometimes, Christians will portray the cause and effects of depression backwards, blaming depressed people for our own suffering.

Uncritical examples

POST PARTUM AND OTHER TYPES OF DEPRESSION

DEPRESSION IS A DEMON | Demon Buster

Archived on Wayback Machine, Archive.today, and Ghost Archive

Depression Grooving Research by Debi Pearl | No Greater Joy (August 2018)

Archived on Wayback Machine, Archive.today, and Ghost Archive

Freedom From Depression by Lori Alexander | The Transformed Wife (July 2017)

Archived on Wayback Machine, Archive.today, and Ghost Archive

Hope for the Unhappy Christian by Phillip Holmes | Desiring God (March 2016)

Archived on Wayback Machine, Archive.today, and Ghost Archive

Commentary

Depressed? It' Your Fault - Part 1 by Suzanne Titkemeyer | No Longer Quivering (August 2018)

Depressed? It' Your Fault - Part 2 by Suzanne Titkemeyer | No Longer Quivering (August 2018)

Quoting Quiverfull: Lori Alexander's Toxic Dangerous Depression Advice by Suzanne Titkemeyer | No Longer Quivering (July 2017)

4. Common Christian teachings regarding evil thoughts leave those of us with intrusive thoughts to believe we are terrible people. We can' control our awful thoughts, nor do they reflect our morality. But according to most Christians, bad thoughts are a sign of our depraved nature and may be a sin in of themselves.

Uncritical examples

What Does The Bible Say About Our Thoughts? | Christian Crier (October 2019)

Archived on Wayback Machine, Archive.today, and Ghost Archive

Commentary

Intrusive Thoughts And Christian Ableism | The Humanitarian Misanthrope (February 2023, my writing)

5. Worry is often treated as a sign of sin, if not itself a sin. This throws people with anxiety disorders under the bus.

Uncritical examples

ANXIETY DEMONS TO CAST OUT | Demon Buster

Archived on Wayback Machine, Archive.today, and Ghost Archive

Anxiety Disorders by Patricia Jones M.A. | Dove Christian Counseling (earliest archive is from October 2007)

Archived on Wayback Machine

Commentary

When Anxiety Isn't A Sin Problem | Ashley Easter (March 2016)

6. There's a distressing number of Christians who think the concept of self-esteem/self-love goes against the Bible, and that people naturally love themselves too much. This is horrible for clinically depressed people and others who deal with self-hatred due to mental health issues.

Uncritical examples

WORRY/ANXIETY

Fixing Your Self-Esteem Session 1 by Charles Hodges MD | Grace Biblical Counseling Services (Oldest archive is from February 2009, has an audio file that's not immediately obvious)

Archived on Wayback Machine

Commentary

The lessons of abuse: low self-esteem is not a desire for self-aggrandizement | Speaking When the World Sleeps (June 2012)

Accepting Myself (or, I'm Great, and It Doesn't Matter What God Thinks) | Tell me why the world is weird (March 2016)

[video] You Deserve Love: Despite What the Church Told You | Belief It Or Not (October 2020)

7. Far too many Christians are dismissive towards people with religious trauma that drove them away from Christianity.

Uncritical examples:

Why do atheists hate God? by Don Batten | Creation Magazine (October 2011)

Archived on Wayback Machine and Archive.today

Joshua Harris: A (Not So) New Kind of Snake Oil Salesman by Grayson Gilbert | The Chorus In The Chaos (August 2021)

Archived on Wayback Machine, Archive.today, and Ghost Archive

Commentary:

None yet

8. I've seen eating disorders attributed to vanity and selfishness.

Uncritical examples:

Eating Disorders | Dove Christian Counseling (earliest archive is from September 2007, argues that people with eating disorders are committing idolatry)

Archived on Wayback Machine, Archive.today, and Ghost Archive

Commentary:

None yet

9. Some Christians trying to address ex-Christians with religiou trauma may say our experiences with toxic Christians shouldn't drive us away from Christianity itself, which demonstrates they care more about their religion's PR than the people their fellow Christians have hurt.

Uncritical examples

None yet

Commentary

Russell Moore had a crisis of faith, but it didn't help him understand ex-evangelicals by Chrissy Stroop | Flux (April 2021)

More about sanism in the church

Things The Bible Doesn't Talk About (Like PTSD). by Captain Cassidy | Roll To Disbelieve (November 2013)

Further information

10 Things Not to Say to a Suicidal Person by Stacey Freedenthal | Speaking Of Suicide (published in 2015)

Types of intrusive thoughts | Mental Health America

Christian ableism

various | sanism | anti-psychology and anti-psychiatry

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