Autistic Boy Banned From Church (VIDEO)

A Minnesota mother fights a restraining order filed by her church against her 13-year-old autistic son.

From MSNBC

Comments

[MalloMel]

"God created us... he created us in his own image and likeness."

If God came to me looking for a job and his resume was the Bible, and his greatest achievement was the creation of the human race, I would not hire him. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't want to live anywhere near him. And, I definitely wouldn't want him anywhere near my daughters, or my sons for that matter.

[Machu]

Whats so surprising..The Christian Church is also the most racist. Churchs are generally segregated here... and they imposed strict segregation in South Africa during apatheid. They never fought for these kinds of things. They pray to a phoney god!

[DerekRC]

The autistic boy spits on other parishioners and urinates in the pews and on people. C'mon people get real here. The kid does not need to go to church to spit and pee on people. Nobody deserves to be placed into an unsafe environment.

[HeatherO]

Adam makes "spitting faces", but does not "spit on people"
Adam is "occasionally incontient" (like some children or seniors), but does pee on people
There's a big difference

[mlaiuppa]

The pastor is looking out for his entire congregation.

This mother only cares about her one son.

He's knocked over people. He hit a child. The pastor is right to protect his congregation.

The mother is selfish to insist her son be allowed to disrupt the worship of the entire congregation.

[desertdweller]

Could it be that the young man was, by virtue of his malady, somehow resistant to their brainwashing?

[msfiskvletterman]

5/22/08
2:50pm
Eugene, OR

This is a very sad story. I wish I could do something to help.
When my little son was diagnosed autistic I decided that I would take him out as much as possible. We went to the mall and he behaved very badly. Also on the bus and the train. The more he got out and about, though, the more his behavior improved. I believe that he learned how to behave by watching how others behaved. And this is the reason that I removed him from classes full of children who were misbehaving.
Surely the church can find a way to accomodate this child.

[msfiskvletterman]

5/22/08
5:45pm
Springifeld, OR

What if a couple of big men volunteered to sit next to the young man--one on either side--during church services so that they could show him how he should behave. I don't know if it would work but I suspect it would.

[ailbhe]

This boy is over 6 feet tall and 230lbs, the child he hit was lucky not to sustain serious injury, the next person may not be so lucky. The Church is responsible for the safety of all it's members and cannot put everybody else at risk in the name of political correctness.

Of course this kid is not at fault for his behaviour, it is the parents responsibility to ensure others are protected from his actions.

What if he knocked over a heavily pregnant woman or a little baby out of the parents arms? They will be held criminally negligent or sued if anybody dies or is seriously injured as a result of their negligence. It is very likely that will happen considering the "who cares" attitude towards those on the receiving end of his violent outbursts.

[MACS]

.
This church needs to read the NEW TESTEMENT whit offers LOVE to ALL.

They fail misserably. Must be fundamentalist evangelicals.
.

[jcause28]

My brother has severe autism. I have been living around it for 28 years. I have been a reasonable advocate for him all my life. I feel bad for this family. But I have to side with the church on this one. There are often cycles with autism. And just because he hasn't hit someone recently does not mean that it is not an issue. My brother has just started some violent behaviors we haven't seen in years. And I have seen him hurt people in grocery stores and such. The truth of the matter is that it can be dangerous for others. Again, I feel bad for this family. But being around autism all my life, I understand the the church's position. It's not a happy situation and, most likely, there isn't a clean solution. Best of luck to everyone involved.

[zizyphus]

As mother of a 24 year old who was diagnosed at age 18 with Aspergerʻs Syndrome, a form of high functioning autism, I have nothing but sympathy for this poor mom, now banned from her church with her disabled son. My son is brilliant- 155 IQ, gifted in math, music and languages. His emotional and social deficits are very severe, and he may never have a close friend, a lover, or a job. He suffers from depression and some obsessive compulsive stuff. Profound apathy is one of the worst problems. I know how hard it is to keep him going, day to day, I cannot imagine what that poor mom goes through with her autistic son. If it was a truly Christian church, they would be doing everything they could to help that family.

In fact, the federal government should be investing in huge adult care homes, all around the country, for the thousands of new autistics that will be coming of age, as long as Big Pharma keeps putting mercury and other known toxins into vaccinations.

[CraigWilloughby]

Did Jesus say in the Bible, "As you do to the least among us, so too do you do to me?" So, by treating this child who is less fortunate this way and banning him from the church, they've also banned Jesus from the church.

And here's the worst part; this is something that the Catholic church is not seeing. You think this kid was bad? Wait! Wait until you see thirty, forty, hundreds of them in your churches. Because you know what? 1 in 80 kids has autism. These kids are going to grow up. Our corrupt government and the sick pHARMa Nazis have washed their hands of these children and don't want to accept the harm they've done. Well, in a few years, there will be no way to ignore it anymore. That one in eighty figure will be 1 in 10, then every child. Maybe then, they'll finally pay attention.

[bluevalentine]

Craig, love how you get right to the point:)
I can see both sides here, but have to side with the family. A church can figure something out to accommodate this child. The very idea of being told that you are not welcome at church when there is a disability involved (or not) is ludicrous. The answer here is not keeping the family from church, the answer is someone giving of themselves to find a way that this can work. Period. There are no verses in the bible that say anythign to the effect of :"come to me as long as it is not inconvenient for others...". God does not turn his back on us....for ANY reason...how can a church decide to turn their back? In fact, it is in the face of adversity that we find out how very strong God expects us to be.

Simply WRONG!
Oh, and btw, NOT CHRISTIAN!

[notthistime]

not only did he hit but there was also issues with urination. The church offered other alternatives (i.e viewing from another room with the family and counseling options) but the family refused. So I understand they had to take into consideration the impact on other congregants.

[standforpeace]

Mass, communion, St. Joseph's? This sounds like it is most likely a Catholic Church. If so does anyone else see any irony in a church that bars a disruptive child with a disability but shielded child predators for decades?

[BadCompany]

This child has apparently already grown out of his usefulness in that regard.
Or maybe the priests don't find him attractive.

[Pennsylvanianne]

There is a big difference between disruptive and dangerous. The autistic "child" is 6 feet tall, weighs more than 200 pounds and hit a child! The mother acknowledged this, as well as being wrong to drag her rather large son up to Communion against his will. I have attended Mass in a Catholic Church where mentally disabled folks shout out and everyone seems to be accepting of their differences. There is a huge difference between disruptive and dangerous to others and a big difference between a child and a 200-pound adolescent. There is no good solution to this unfortunate circumstance.

[standforpeace]

How about attempting to make some accomodations for this kid so that he can participate in the Catholic community. As a Catholic, you'll know that receiving communion is a critical part of the belief system so I can see why this woman is desperate to find a way for her son to be able to do that and to do it in "communion" with the parish community. I believe that it the parish tried to reach an acccomodation, they probably could rather than going for the exclusion option. And what I'm saying is that a church that made accomodations for child molesters should try to work something out for this kid that keeps others safe and still allows him to participate.

And I couldn't agree with you more that it is crazy for the mom to be dragging him to that alter if he doesn't want to go. As far as I can remember, communion has to be freely received to mean anything.

[wm1066]

The mother brought the boy up with her to accept communion, thats when he hit another person. now how is an autistic child confirmed so they can take communion? He doesn't look able to understand what communion is. Why did the mother drag him up to the communion rail? She has every right to bring him to church but if he starts hitting people all bets are off.

[AgeofReason]

Jesus asked, "Which of these was the good neighbor: The Levite who crossed the street to avoid the unclean man in the ditch, the Priest who did the same, or the Samaritan who picked him up, cleaned him up, and cared for him until he could care for himself?" The church is not meant to do what is easy. We are not commanded to love only our loveable neighbors. My question is not why did this church kick them out, but rather why would they want to go to this church? The one thing about this story that is crystal clear is that Jesus himself is not welcome there. This family should find a church that welcomes them in true Christian love.

[notthistime]

but they should also control the child so he is not hurting other members.