Radicalisation and Children's Mental Health

Good Morning and Welcome to this week’s Gospel and Culture update, by Alan Vink
Radicalisation and Children’s Mental Health
Monday 28th March 2022

Radicalisation

This word has been bandied about a fair bit the last two years. It certainly was mentioned many times during the recent 23 day occupation in Parliament. What exactly is it?

The noun, radical, comes from the Latin radix "root," and in fact, radical and root are synonymous as technical terms in fields such as maths and linguistics. However in everyday language, a radical is someone who has very extreme views, so you could say that their views are different from the root up. Similarly, a radical flaw or change is a fundamental one whereas a radical design or idea is very new and innovative. So you might say, The past few years have witnessed radical improvements to the system. Or I'm just having my hair trimmed - nothing radical.

The process of radicalisation is the process through which a person comes to support or be involved in extremist ideologies. It can result in a person becoming drawn into terrorism which in itself is a form of harm.

Typically people who have been radicalised or are being radicalised hold anti-government and even anti-democracy views. They will often display a growing intolerance to people who hold other ideologies and religious beliefs. Radicalised people are less and less capable of rational argument.
A quick review of the literature will tell you that this is a huge concern particularly amongst young people these days. But sadly it has also been a concern these last two years during the pandemic amongst older adults as well. There was no doubt that there were some people (small groups/cells) at the occupation at Parliament who were promulgating extremist views.

Here are two articles that bare this out. The first one is from Newsroom and the second from the Guardian.

POV. Clearly this is a big subject. As pastors and teachers we have an important role to play here I believe. We are called to ‘watch over’ our flock. However that is very challenging task in our internet age when Christians have access to an unbelievable amount of information and will often spend more time there doing their ‘research’ than in solid and systematic bible study. Paul said to Timothy a few times, and I paraphrase, ‘tell your people to watch out for ‘doctrines that come from demons’. We would do well to take Paul’s advice.

Children’s Mental Health

“Children and young people were taken to hospital after self-harming more than 5600 times in the year to September, escalating an alarming trend that mental health experts say is indicative of growing distress among young New Zealanders”, so the front page article of the Weekend Herald opened with a few weeks ago. That was almost a 33% increase on the year before. Then add in all the kids who don’t self-harm but are struggling none-the-less. Thousands upon thousands and the public health system is not coping not by a long shot.

"Young children often take their cue from their caregivers as to how to be in a situation," says Dr Melanie Woodfield , a clinical psychologist and researcher at the University of Auckland. "If there's high expressed emotion in the home, or if parents are really struggling, children are more likely to struggle. And I think many parents are wearing and fatigued at this sustained season of juggling work, childcare, health worries and financial concerns."

POV. Here is both a pastoral opportunity and an outreach opportunity. As a local church could you run an information night(s) for the community about children’s mental health? What about opening some kind of help desk? What about writing and distributing an article for parents that is both psychologically sound and biblically insightful that will help parents stay calm and attentive in these very challenging times because when the parents are calm the kids are much more likely to be calm. The sky is the limit.

Alan Vink is currently the Executive Director for LeadershipWorx. Prior to this role he has been the Executive Director of Willow Creek Association NZ (WillowNZ), a Baptist pastor (23 years), Bible College teacher, and church consultant.