Jottings on science, religion, technology, pop culture and faith from the Antipodes.

Science, Technology & Religion

Faith & Healing

Interesting article from Newsweek that I saw linked to from the Science & Theology News web site that comments on the increasing discussion over the place of spirituality and religion in the health sector.

Modern medicine, of course, still demands scientific proof on top of anecdotal evidence. So over the past decade, researchers have been conducting hundreds of studies, trying to scientifically measure the effects of faith and spirituality on health. Can religion slow cancer? Reduce depression? Speed recovery from surgery? Lower blood pressure? Can belief in God delay death? While the research results have been mixed, the studies inevitably run up against the difficulty of using scientific methods to answer what are, essentially, existential questions. How do you measure the power of prayer? Can one person’s prayer be stronger – and more effective – than another’s? How do you separate the health benefits of going to church or synagogue from the fact that people who attend religious services tend to smoke less and be less depressed than those who don’t?

Full article at: MSNBC – Faith & Healing