[NotforSale]

Over 10 years ago, my wife and I went to a Native American village to pastor a church there. We learned a lot of things about their culture and history. One thing that really puzzled me back then was they had discovered that many of the Shamans (Witchdoctors) were schizophrenic. They assumed they had some special connection with spiritual realms that the Tribe needed to understand, but in reality, the Shaman was mentally retarded.

This disease also runs on the wife’s side of my family, and I watched her brother become very ill and die. He would talk to himself, play games all by himself, and claim that God was speaking to him. In the past, he may have been accused of being devil possessed, especially when he was seen walking naked through the middle of town, but the facts are, he was mentally incapacitated from this horrible sickness.

With current Science and Medical technology being so advanced, I believe we need to revisit this area of Religious condemnation, where innocent people have been falsely ridiculed and abused. Some have even been executed under this irrational and irresponsible judgment.