I admit, I'm not much of a Christian. Okay, I'm not a Christian at all, but I've always admired the way some true Christians behave, i.e., with tolerance and understanding of those less fortunate. My sister is a born-again Christian, and in some ways it's the best thing that's ever happened to her, though I feel a gulf between us has opened up. Well, maybe not a gulf, but a little rivulet or something.

Given the atrocious things that are carried on in Christ's name—Bush's foreign and domestic policies; discrimination of GLBTs; anti-choice and anti-stem cell rigidity of thought—it's always lovely to see a church doing something good. There are a lot of good Catholics out there, but the Catholic Church, capital C, leaves something to be desired. The Presbyterian Church, capital C, is quite progressive, and continues on in that spirit with Serious Mental Illness: Seeking a Comprehensive Christian Response. The document, prepared by the Task Force on Serious Mental Illness of the Advisory Committe on Social Witness Policy, was created with this in mind:

"The goal is to encourage and challenge the church to study ways people living with mental illness are included or excluded from participating in the work of the church and society in general. How do we share in God's joy and grace with those who experience great pain and brokenness, without patronizing or avoiding systemic, social issues?"

The study guide uses legitimate psychiatry (and no, doubters, that's not an oxymoron in these parts) to provide a backdrop, so that the people who bring God into the equation have science in their minds as well. It seems like a good recipe to me for religious people who are struggling. Sometimes they feel God is with them, but their communities are not. And if the church people are put off, does that mean God is alienated as well?

For my part, though I'm not religious, I always took solace in religious observance, but it would be nice to think that the clergyman or woman leading the ritual was speaking to everyone's pleasure—and everyone's pain, including people with mental illnesses.

[This image is of a Philadelphia Presbyterian Church. As a collector of 19th-century photographs, I couldn't resist it.]