Priests and Pastors Must be Banned from Giving Therapy 

As strange as it is, priests and pastors are allowed a listening and therapy role without qualifications.
 
This needs to be banned legally for the following reasons.
 
#They have no training and no recognised qualifications in the area.
 
#The state recognising purely religious qualifications contradicts the separation that must exist between state and religion.
 
#Their victims are assisted and encouraged to think that their healing from past hurt is down to the power of God's magic. But if they won their own healing they need to see and know that. It empowers them and it's only fair. If I know I have healed myself by changing my attitude, I will never have to fear that God will take the healing from me. That's a possibility if God is behind it. I am better off believing I healed myself.
 
#It leads to people being referred to the clergy for emotional and psychological support.  Therapists telling people who suffered sexual child abuse to go and talk to members of the clergy - especially the Catholic Church priesthood - is a gross violation of trust. It is urging people to go to a religious system that may be engaged in covering up child sex abuse or of being soft on it. And Christian teaching on sex is twisted and harmful. That alone is a reason for vulnerable and impressionable people to keep away.

#The clergy will have you exorcised if you fail to respond to therapy and medication.
 
#If the Christian who undergoes therapy improves, she should be unwilling to accept that there is a perfectly logical explanation for any change without the need to recourse to imaginary gods. It's a case of, "It is not my self-discovery that helped but God." If you don't think your aspirin really took away your headache though the headache did go away, then why hold that it matters if you take the aspirin or not? Also, you will be no help to those who suffered as you did. If you cannot prove how you got well you cannot help others.
 
#The true Christian cannot tell a person, "Forgive others so that you will set yourself free from hate." Then it is done for yourself and not the people who hurt you. It is not forgiving them at all. It is merely casting out the negative emotions. It is surely possible to cast out the bad feelings without forgiving the person. You may still like to see them hurt but this will not bring you misery. The person is being manipulated by the Christian therapist. And you have to forgive or be trying to. That is essential if therapy is to help at all.
 
#Vulnerable people may be damaged by the session.  Bereavement is not complete until you find some happiness in the thought that the person does not exist any more. They didn't exist before they were born and that doesn't bother you. You knew them and you want to be with them that is why their non-existence after dying bothers you. But be careful what you wish for. And it should not be about you. Asking for them to live on means that if you get your wish they might be damaged or barely conscious or capable of being injured. There is a comfort in feeling you know that they cannot be injured any more or brought back to be hurt etc. God and religion just harm people by saying and acting different. Just keep the good they did going by helping people in their honour. That is the way to keep them alive.
 
#Vulnerable people may use religion as a crutch. That is not to be encouraged. One day the crutch will break. Religious therapy is supportive of the crutch and therefore dangerous.
 
#True therapy gives people self-empowerment skills. Religious therapy has to put the focus on God. No genuine believer can claim the right to tell a suffering person that God will heal them. It might not be his will. It's not that he wants to but that evil has ruined his creation and things go wrong. In fact the therapist will have to settle for telling the person that God will help only if it is the right thing to do under the circumstances.
 
#And how is being told that you suffer from original sin - ie come into being with the intention of defying God and his blessings - and that your loved ones will rot in the torments of Hell for all eternity unless they believe and repent supposed to help you? How a person would feel comfortable opening their hearts to someone who supports a faith that teaches such vicious things and without enough evidence to justify such huge claims is a mystery.
 
# The Church says you have to want to see sin suffer and be punished but not the sinner. This makes no sense. The reason why hate is so powerful in our society is that it and its roots are not recognised and exposed. One root is the pretending that you can hate the sinner and love her sin. You do not get off lightly, thanks to the law, even if you have philosophical reasons for believing your promoting of hatred is morally acceptable. Religion shouldn’t get off either. The believers wouldn't turn themselves in for the filthy and sneaky way they promote hatred. And they approve of other kinds of inciters to hatred going to jail or being heavily fined. They are maligned because they are non-religious.