Reaction to ‘When Pastors’ Silent Suffering Turns Tragic’
Editor’s note: No story in recent memory has generated more reader response than a Religion News Service article we published Jan. 7 about depression in the ministry. (Sadly, at least four pastors in South Carolina have committed suicide in the last four years, according to Monty Hale, director of pastoral ministries for the South Carolina Baptist Convention.) The story asks if the pressures of evangelicalism, especially in the South, create “the perfect environment for depression” among pastors. The original article and subsequent readers’ letters, plus an article on clergy stress, can be found below.
Article: When Pastors’ Silent Suffering Turns Tragic
Sidebar: Churches can ease stigma of depression
Letter: Oppression from the pews
Letter: Depression results from sin
Letter: Don’t blame depression’s victim
Letter: Show love, not condemnation
Letter: More complicated than we think
Letter: ‘True understanding’ of depression
Letter: Laypeople can lift up pastor
Online Exclusive: Clergy Stress: Hank’s Struggle
Letter: Depressed need support