Baptist pastor falsely claims autism is demonic: "My God doesn't make junk"
Pastor Rick Morrow infuriated many parents who don't see autism as a problem in need of supernatural intervention
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UPDATE 2 (Sep. 12, 2023): Pastor Rick Morrow has resigned from the Stoutland R-II School District.
KY3 reached out to Stoutland Schools. It responded with this statement:
“The District is aware that a member of the Board of Education, in a setting and capacity outside of his board member role, made comments that have been interpreted as derogatory toward individuals with certain disabilities. One member of the Board of Education does not speak for the Board of Education as a whole, nor the District itself. The District is steadfast in its compliance with both the requirements of and the spirit of non-discrimination laws and our own Board-adopted policies regarding the same. Our school district welcomes students of all backgrounds, regardless of ability, and provides educational opportunities and services to each and everyone with commitment and care. I can confirm that the District has received a letter of resignation from the Board member, which will be presented to the board as a whole at the next meeting.”
The resignation comes after a petition had also been circulating demanding he step down. So far, Morrow himself hasn’t made any public statement about his school board position.
UPDATE (Sep. 11, 2023): On Sunday, Pastor Rick Morrow responded to widespread criticism about his comments. He insisted he was not attacking kids with autism, but rather autism itself… before comparing it to cancer and addiction.
I’m sure that’ll go over real well with families who have children with autism…
… I made a statement Wednesday night talking about demons, and we're going to keep talking about them on Wednesday night. And I made a statement. I said, “Let's talk about something demonic.” And I said, “autism.” And then I said, “God doesn't make junk.”
Those of you that know me know that I love people and I would never say that people are junk. It has been perceived that I'm evil, that I am full of the devil, that I am possessed myself because I said kids with autism are junk. That's what has been perceived.
What was intended was autism is junk. People that have it are loved by God and loved by me.
Now, I've tried… I’ve tried to reach out to some of the mob mentality that's attacking Beulah right now. I can't get anywhere. I have been told that autism is a blessing from God. I have been told that I'm the evil one.
But you know what? If I was to stand up here and say cancer is junk, people would agree. If I were to stand up here and say addiction is junk, people would agree.
But for some reason, when I shine the light on this subject, it has been blown so far out of proportion.
Let me remind everyone that Morrow claimed kids with autism could be “healed” with prayer. That’s a lie. He said that the only alternative to believing autism is caused by demons is saying, of children, “God just doesn't like ‘em very much and he made ‘em that way.”
Oh. And he’s still on the local public school board.
My original story is below.
On Wednesday night, Pastor Rick Morrow of Beulah Church in Richland, Missouri said that autism was caused by the devil and prayers alone could heal the developmental disability.
Morrow argued that the only alternative to that theory was that God created children with autism because He “doesn't like ‘em very much.” But he rejected that option because, in his view, “God doesn't make junk,” suggesting that there’s something deeply flawed about children who are on the autism spectrum.
The sermon can still be seen on Facebook (for now) with the relevant bit beginning around the 2:00 mark. The clip below includes enhanced audio for easier listening.
It's very crucial: [If] someone has a physical infirmity and you cast that demon out, you might have to pray for some things to be fixed.
Let's talk about one. Let's talk about autism.
Rick, did you just go there? Yeah. Like, I know a minister who has seen lots of kids that are autistic, that he cast that demon out, and they were healed, and then he had to pray and their brain was rewired and they were fixed.
Yeah, I just went there. I mean, you can get online and see lots of examples of it.
If it's not demonic, then we have to say God made them that way. Like, that's the only other explanation.
Why [does] my kid have autism? Well, either the devil's attacked them, he's brought this infirmity upon them, he's got them where he wants them, and/or God just doesn't like ‘em very much and he made ‘em that way.
Well, my God doesn't make junk.
God doesn't make mess-ups.
God doesn't make people that way.
So let's quit being nice and putting a Band-Aid on stuff and giving it medicine. And this goes so much bigger than autism, people. I just gave you that as an example.
The sermon has infuriated people in the community, some of whom have children with autism and have no trouble reconciling it with their faith. As one mother put it:
[My son’s] autism may have brought a lot of extra challenges to his life and ours, but he is an absolute BLESSING! Autism has increased my faith, brought me so many moments of joy, and has taught me many lessons in patience, hope, etc. [My son] is not “junk” or a “mess up”…his growth and successes are nothing short of proof that God has been at constant work in our family! He was created with a purpose!
That sentiment was shared by many people who commented under the church’s video on Facebook, with responses ranging from “This whole congregation needs to run away” to “I'm embarrassed this is in our community.”
One Missouri mother was so upset about his sermon that she reached out to Morrow personally to tell him how her son, who has autism, is a blessing. She explained that he doesn’t have an “illness.” Rather, he’s a “brilliant child” who simply communicates differently. She also asked Morrow if he felt the same way about children with Down syndrome.
He said that, too, was Satan’s fault.
For a church whose tagline is “Making Jesus Famous,” I’m guessing this is not what they had in mind.
Making matters worse, Morrow isn’t merely some random ignorant pastor. He’s also a school board member for the Stoutland R-II School District. This guy oversees education for public school students, at least some of whom we have to assume are on the autism spectrum. That would mean he believes the devil has attacked all of them and the only way to handle those students is with prayer instead of therapy or academic intervention.
If any of this sounds familiar, it may be because Christian hate-preacher Greg Locke said many of the same things before. In January of 2022, Locke claimed in a sermon that people weren’t taking demon possession seriously: “Your kid could be demonized and attacked, but your doctor calls it autism.”
His evidence for that claim? "Ain't no such diagnosis in the Bible."
None of that comports with our scientific understanding of autism, which has been called the “most heritable of neurodevelopmental disorders.” Genetics (not Satan) plays the biggest role in determining whether or not a child will have it. Plenty of people with autism are high-functioning and many are never diagnosed.
Most parents who have raised children with certain neurological or developmental disabilities will tell you that, no matter how difficult it may have been, they wouldn’t trade a thing. Their kids are who they are because of their differences, not in spite of them.
Even Christian parents will say God doesn’t make mistakes. If they have children with autism, it must be for a reason. As one religious parent explained, “My son is not autistic because he is demon possessed; he is autistic so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” They know their kids are gifts, not “mess-ups” whose lives went off-track because of Satan. One pastor put it this way: “Children born with any number of physical, emotional, and learning disabilities have value, dignity, and worth based on their being created in God's image. This is antithetical to the Gospel.”
When Locke made his comments, a number of adults with autism said his kind of thinking harmed them when they were younger. They were subject to exorcisms. They were traumatized because their churches taught them they were responsible for their disorder. They were subject to countless prayers even though there’s no known cure for autism; many parents would tell you there’s nothing that needs to be cured when it comes to kids who are on the spectrum.
But Morrow possesses none of that empathy or understanding. He’s fully convinced that anyone with autism—or any other developmental issue—has a demon problem and the only solution is more Jesus, ignoring the fact that even other Baptist families would tell him he’s got this all wrong.
As of this writing, Morrow hasn’t apologized and video of the sermon remains on Facebook.
This will hopefully lead to more people leaving this guy's church. I can guarantee no amount of prayers heals autism, because there's nothing to heal.
A friend likened autism to having a computer with a different operating system and that really stuck with me.
What a vile, vile man. How can someone have such hatred towards other people? Calling them demon possessed simply because of a condition that they were born with... science has perfectly reasonable explanations for autism and it’s got nothing to do with your made up god or devil. It’s a shame that anyone goes to this sad pathetic excuse of a man for any sort of advice. Hopefully the school board catches wind of this and he is removed from that position. No one with views like this has any right to be making decisions that may affect children with autism.