Countering Fanaticism?
So, we have a younger cousin who suffers from Schizophrenia. In everything I've read (and now seen), the potential for religious fanaticism is higher for those suffering from this condition. We love him deeply and see him often - but have noticed a pronounced shift in religiosity over the past year. Specifically, he belongs to a (what appears to be) a pretty extreme "born again" evangelical church. He spends a lot of his free time there, and his sponsor for NA is the one who brought him into the church. A bit of background on what felt like a tipping point:
We are a multi-ethnic, interfaith family that is very welcoming of difference. My wife and I are Jewish. He has a Jewish grandparent. He has other Jewish cousins and an aunt and uncle who probably would also identify as Jewish if forced to choose. That is to say, he has a lot of Jewish family who loves and accepts him. We picked him up for Seder and he wore an Isiah 53 t-shirt (this being apparently one of the "proof passages" predicting the arrival of Jesus). He asked me how Passover connected to the "bigger story", ex: how it fit into the Jesus story, but I didn't indulge in a supercessionist explanation. Pretty tame so far.
On the ride home, we asked him about his brother's girlfriend. In his mind, she didn't qualify as "godly enough, or god fearing enough." Which, is a complete double standard he is now seemingly only placing on women. He then said it made him sad to know he wouldn't be able to see his Grandpa in heaven because he'd be in hellfire on account of being Jewish. And that he didn't know if he could have a relationship with his queer younger sister if she married a woman. He then added that he didn't think Catholics were actually Christians and that he felt called to minister to those who didn't yet know Christ. Ending with...Jesus hates the sinners too, which feels like a pretty extreme misinterpretation.
So, uh, what do we do here? We care about him and are concerned. We also know that pushback is likely to be interpreted as us wanting to push him away from his relationship with the Church or with Jesus. I could see his fellow parishioners telling him to cut us off. Any guidance?