Help For the Soul

In John 14, Jesus underscores the importance of training our minds and to heed His words. We can strengthen our minds through the absorption of God's Word. Jesus relates:
24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.
25 "These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.
26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

We can be challenged to program our minds according to the truth of Scripture. If we are focused on His truth, then we will be able to think Biblically about ourselves and the world around us. We can see how right thinking can lead to a heart that desires more of the Lord and ultimately lead to our obedience to Him. In a culture that is beset by mental issues from anxiety to anger, it is God's Word that can still the storm and give us peace.

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Jesus is concerned about matters of the mind - we recognize that wrong thinking leads to wrong action and a weakened spirit. The Creator of our minds offers the powerful means to train ourselves for right thinking. 1st Peter 5 states:
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

There is a barrage of issues that is confronting our teens, and many are looking for answers. I mentioned yesterday that there are those that are proposing a legislative solution to the mental health challenges that grow from a heightened sense of loneliness.  And, some officials are taking steps to help our teens by rightly addressing the issues from a spiritual perspective.  As The Washington Post reported recently:

The bills have been introduced this legislative season in 14 states, inspired by Texas, which passed a law last year allowing school districts to hire chaplains or use them as volunteers for whatever role the local school board sees fit, including replacing trained counselors. Chaplain bills were approved by one legislative chamber in three states — Utah, Indiana and Louisiana — but died in Utah and Indiana. Bills are pending in nine states. One passed both houses of Florida’s legislature and is awaiting the governor’s signature.

Alabama is one of the states that has had such a bill introduced. An Alabama Reflector piece reported that the bill "would require local boards of education to vote on whether or not to allow public schools to have an employed or volunteer chaplain."

Key word here is "allow."  The Florida bill, according to The Christian Post, would "volunteer chaplains to provide counseling services in public schools." It said that the bill "would also mandate that principals in schools with volunteer chaplains tell parents about it and offer them a list of the volunteers, all of whom will be subject to a background check." Plus, "Parents will be allowed to choose from the list of chaplains and allow their children to receive counseling with written permission..."

Unfortunately, the Satanic Temple has made a mockery of this very serious legislation, threatening to sue if its so-called "chaplains" are not allowed to participate.

First Liberty, on its website, offers a bold defense for the proposal of making chaplains available in schools, stating:

The U.S. Supreme Court has made clear that the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause does not “‘compel the government to purge from the public sphere’ anything an objective observer could reasonably infer endorses or ‘partakes of the religious.’”

Last year, in our case, Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, the Supreme Court overruled a 50-year precedent known as Lemon v. Kurtzman, which wrongly held that government action that lacks a secular purpose, advances religion, or entangles the government with religion violated the Establishment Clause. Cases grounded in Lemon’s framework may no longer be controlling, as the Supreme Court overturned Lemon and with it, decades of subsequent precedents that came from that decision.

And, the Christian legal organization contends that just because something is religious, it is not "coercive," stating:

The Texas law, for example, does not mandate schools to install chaplains. It leaves it up to each school district whether to put a program in place. Pending bills in other states mirror this same language and principle.

On this point, we need to be crystal clear: schools may not coerce students to engage in religious exercise. Therefore, chaplain services should be strictly voluntary for students to use.

We should, however, point out that in Kennedy, the Supreme Court rejected the notion that the mere presence of religious activity is somehow coercive. Instead, the Court found no coercion “where there is no evidence anyone sought to persuade or force students to participate.”

The National School Chaplain Association is involved in helping to provide school chaplains.  Its website provides this information:

The National School Chaplain Association (NSCA) was established to promote school chaplains as legitimate and necessary members of a school staff through national standards for school chaplains.

NSCA is a Christian chaplain ministry that provides spiritual care, counseling, and practical community support to Pre-K through 12th grade students, teachers, and their families regardless of age, race, creed, color, sex, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, marital status, or socioeconomic status.

Our trained and certified chaplains provide counsel, education, advocacy, life improvement skills, and recovery training, supplying a bridge between the secular and spiritual environments of community life throughout the U.S.

Certainly, there will be those concerned about mixing religion and education. But, as we have found throughout the years, there are those who want to relegate the practice of religion to second-tier status, allowing other forms of speech but clamping down on religious expression. While America does not have an official "state" religion, the practice of faith is an important component in the lives of so many in our country, so isolating and marginalizing faith is offensive.

And, potentially detrimental to young people who are suffering from a variety of mental health challenges.  As First Liberty notes:

The National Alliance on Mental Illness, for example, explains that religion and spirituality can have tremendous benefits in mental health support. The organization points to research suggesting that religiosity reduces suicide rates, alcoholism and drug use.

The International Journal of Mental Health Systems reports that having a religious coping mechanism “can be instrumental to improving adolescent mental health.”

Other studies indicate that religious guidance can have a positive impact on teenagers’ academic performance. Pew Research points to studies on various faiths and how “religious involvement enhances an individual’s social capital in the form of family and peer networks, which promote educational success.”

The answers to the major issues of our day - from crime to the economy, from anxiety and other mental health issues to widespread anger, from abortion to sexuality, are found in God's Word. To isolate religion from the fabric of life in America is depriving people of the answers they need.  We should not view religious practice as a threat, but as an opportunity to see lives changed and hearts healed.