Good evening everyone!! How do you all feel about religion in general (be honest. Lol)? I strongly believe that 7 out of 10 people won’t feel comfortable talking about it. Perhaps religion doesn’t directly speak on why a person is struggling, or it can be a case where people have used religion to alienate those outside a certain faith or denomination.
Religious people with disabilities have their set of problems when it comes to following a faith. Based on my experience…we struggle with getting stared at, patronized (a.k.a. being talked down to like a helpless child) and feeling as if our disability is a bad thing (or sin). I thought religions (namely the five most popular ones in the world) are supposed to be inclusive. I read countless number of examples of Jesus loving up on the struggling. You can even go back to the eras before Jesus, looking at the story of King David letting the ‘crippled’ son (for lack of better terms) of Jonathan eat with the royal family. Furthermore, the king gave him the same royal treatment as the rest of the family.
The point is that we should love EVERYONE and give EVERYONE the opportunity to excel in a religion. We should be inclusive and be included when we live out our faiths. For instance, a person can provide spiritual needs of the disabled believer, instead of overlooking or rebuking shortcomings. Warming up to newcomers, though it’s small act, will be a big help too.
I could go on and on about this all day. But I’ll stop here (lol)! Feel free to add more tips or stories on having a disability while practicing a religion.
Related Links
Culture, Religion, and Disability
On Disability and Sola Scriptura
Striving for Community as God-Fearing Aspie
Tags: abilities of the arts, abilitysota, Buddhism, christianity, disability, Disability Acceptance, Disability Rights, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Pharaoh, religion, Sprituality, Timotheus Gordon, Unique Abilities