by Rev. Michael Heath | Jun 1, 2026
The recent merger of right-wing politics with Evangelical Christianity confuses clients who seek counseling from a pastoral counselor. So, I want to share some thoughts about what pastoral counseling means for me.
Pastoral Counseling in Perspective
Looking back over the years since Pine Ridge began, I realize how dynamic Pastoral Counseling (PC) is. Pastoral Counseling recognizes that not all emotional problems are pathological. Life transitions,loss and death raise profound spiritual questions that benefit from counseling. Also, PC demonstrates how faith and psychology can work together to improve mental health.
For example, PC familiar Bible stories, such as the story of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42), dramatize important psychological concepts. In Luke’s story, for example, folks can see how anxiety and feeling overwhelmed masquerade as irritability and anger.
Over the years, however, things changed. Unfortunately, many of my clients reported emotional trauma connected to their experience with religion. Instead of increasing a sense of love and gratitude, religion deepened their sense of sinfulness and unworthiness.
Rather than translating psychological concepts into more familiar biblical or theological ones, my role evolved to addressing abuses of religious teaching. Toxic religion can seriously damage self-esteem and create false and debilitating feelings of guilt and shame. Examples of Toxic Theology and Religious Trauma – Death, Grief, and Belief
Sadly, the media gives attention to sexual abuse by clergy but often overlooks the more subtle damage of harmful religious doctrines. Indeed, not enough light shines on the psychological harm created by corrosive religious teaching.
With this in mind, here are some telltale signs of harmful religion to watch out for. toxic religion | Pastoral Counseling Syracuse NY
by Rev. Michael Heath | Mar 23, 2021
Many times the role of a pastoral counselor is to point out and lift up spiritual concerns hidden by cultural or psychological trappings. At other times, it is to call to task errors and abuses of religion which have gone astray and become abusive of mental health or to help those who have suffered abuse from harmful religious practices or clergy misconduct to heal. The latter is the nature of our discussion today.
The recent murder of Asian women in Atlanta has brought attention to the growing number of attacks against Asian-Americans. There is another aspect of this slaughter, however, which must not be overlooked : the harmful influence of the alleged shooter’s religion. More specifically, I believe that the conservative church’s teachings about sex and women played a significant part in the murderer’s enraged emotional state . The church’s ignorant and outdated attitudes about…
by Rev. Michael Heath | Oct 1, 2020
Okay, let’s start with a little Rorschach test. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the words sex and religion ? Not so good. Certainly not like cookies and milk. They just don’t go together very well.
From its inception, Christianity has never been comfortable with the topic of sex. It is important to remember that, when Christianity arose, Roman culture ‘s decadence was at its worst. It is understandable but unfortunate, that to escape its licentiousness, the early church fathers were unable to understand the spiritual aspects of human sexuality and totally separated it from faithful devotion.
Perhaps Christianity’s failure to integrate sexuality into its theology and deal with it realistically was due in part to its expectation of Christ’s imminent return. From that point of view, things concerning the body would be of little concern. However, St. Paul’s discomfort with sex seems to go beyond that. His writings about sex and women are suspect and reveal that he was not actually comfortable with sex at all. For example, he preferred celibacy and only recommended marriage as a way to prevent sexual immorality and deal with sexual desire. (1Cor 7)
For whatever reason, subsequent leaders of the church were never able to fully embrace sexuality in a healthy way. As comedian George Carlin once quipped, the sacrament of marriage was never really able to transform something which was regarded as “dirty” or disgusting into something divine. Sex was largely appreciated for being a means to the end of creating children. (Thomas Aquinas) Little effort was spent extolling the sheer joy of the experience. Worse, church doctrine tended to take natural human curiosity and interest about sex and normal physiological impulses like masturbation, and turn them into mortal sins e.g. having impure thoughts or self-abuse. Indeed, throughout its history, the church has elevated celibacy and sexual purity as the most virtuous and godly state.
I reflect on Christianity’s negative bias against sex in the past because, I, as a pastoral counselor , see the pain caused by religiously induced guilt and shame over sex. Today, the omnipresence of sex in our culture (in advertising and through internet pornography) heightens the conflict. Without positive alternatives to offer, the traditional emphasis on sexual purity is psychologically abusive. The conservative messages are abusive because they give the impression that normal sexual impulses are evil or sinful desires.
Instead of helping folks learn to how to morally and responsibility navigate the choppy waters of the sexual environment found in modern life, the emphasis on purity simply preaches avoidance and condemnation. This attitude exposes the fundamental inability of some churches to understand that sex is not the enemy of faith . Likewise, these beliefs are oblivious to the fact that human sexuality is a vital aspect of a spiritually and psychologically healthy person.
Over the years, the physical abuse of children by clergy has been a terrible reality for many people. Beyond the physical abuse, however, it is clear that the guilt and shame created by ignorant and phobic attitudes towards sex and sexual diversity is an even more extensive and pervasive problem which has been often minimized or ignored.
by Rev. Michael Heath | Nov 24, 2021
Although we like to think that getting together for Thanksgiving is as wonderful at this Norman Rockwell painting, most of us know that it is not. Unfortunately, for many folks, these events can be quite stressful. Longstanding interpersonal conflicts and struggles over old grudges, politics or religion can spoil even the most perfectly planned events.
As if family gatherings weren’t difficult enough, Covid-19, has added yet another layer of problems with which we have to deal. That said, it is important to take time, to step back and to appreciate and experience the blessings we have.
Here are some tips to avoid trouble and make this festive time more enjoyable and less anxiety ridden:
