Here’s to Your Health
As a spiritual but nonreligious person, I don’t understand how religion may interfere negatively with the current medical system, as some contend (“Faith and Healing,” Nov. 10). While a belief system may not cure disease, there are significant benefits to including faith as part of the healing process. Since the true relationship between medicine and faith may never be understood, acknowledgment of a patient’s beliefs may be the start to ensuring a holistic approach to health care and a person’s mental, spiritual and physical well-being. Kristin Varacalli School of Public Health, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Mich.
I am 94 years old and have been an avowed atheist since I was 16. Although brought up in an orthodox milieu, I have survived three life-threatening surgeries not because of my prayers or others’, but because of the skill of my doctors, the wonders of modern medical technology and my own sound state of mind. There are hundreds of thousands of people who never go to church not because of indifference but out of serious conviction. Is there any doubt that a survey of these decent people would show that they live as long as or longer than regular churchgoers? Michael Golomb West Lafayette, Ind.
Religion is based on belief. Therefore, there are many religions and an even greater range in individual beliefs. However, science is based on evidence. If “science is starting to believe” instead of collecting and examining evidence, then we don’t have a prayer. Richard Hand Eugene, Ore.
Let us not forget to pray, and pray hard for the 43 million-plus uninsured in our country. That’s a sin. Marion Julia Ford, R.N. Bronx, N.Y.
As research psychologists working with chaplains, we read your article with particular interest. The recent movement to improve physicians’ understanding of spiritual care is enormously important to the 10,000 professional chaplains in the United States. Generally, physicians are less religious than their patients and less likely than nurses to refer patients to chaplains. We recently studied referral patterns at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and found that less than 3 percent of the referrals were made by medical doctors, compared with 82 percent made by nurses. If physicians avoid any conversation with patients about religion and spirituality, patients may not receive the best care they can get. Unlike doctors and nurses, chaplains receive intensive training in religion and spirituality. The four professional chaplains pictured in the article represent the gamut of faith traditions and are all employed by our organization. We are a multifaith organization involved in the training of student chaplains who are required to complete 1,600 hours of supervision. To ensure quality in spiritual care, it is critical that health-care institutions hire specially educated and certified professional chaplains. Andrew J. Weaver, Director of Research Kevin J. Flannelly, Assoc. Director of Research The HealthCare Chaplaincy New York, N.Y.
The idea that a person’s health may be improved by the prayers of anonymous others had a negative effect on my own condition: my blood pressure reached dangerously high levels for hours after I read the article. Paul Murtaugh Corvallis, Ore.
I would contend that being prayed for by others has absolutely no effect–unless the sick person knows that many caring people are praying for him or her and actually believes that those prayers could help. Then the power of positive thinking is unleashed. Jill H. Clerkin North Reading, Mass.
Prof. Richard Sloan feels that prayer is an invasion of privacy and adds a further burden to the patient (" ‘Religion Is a Private Matter’ “). I have seen quite the contrary as an orthopedic surgeon in private practice for 12 years. We are taught in medical school to take a multisystem approach to the patient. We are spiritual beings; to focus purely on the physical to the exclusion of the spiritual is myopic indeed. I have been offering to pray with my patients prior to surgery for the past nine years. While my patients appreciate a good surgical outcome, most of the positive feedback pertains to the prayer offered on their behalf. Rather than feeling an invasion of privacy, and sensing an increased burden of remorse and guilt, the vast majority have welcomed the prayer offered in humility. Jordan Stoll, M.D. Boulder, Colo.
Why omit the nursing profession from the healing equation? While physicians treat a patient’s disease, nursing tends to treat the patient holistically. Many nurses address the whole being–the body/mind/spirit of the patient–to promote wellness. The terms of spirituality and religiosity need clarifying. Religion is a belief and commitment to doctrines and practices. Spirituality gives meaning, values and purpose to life, and is a connection to the transcendent (however that is defined by the individual). Spirituality is experienced in the secular and the sacred. Spirituality can result in choosing a religion; religion can result in developing spiritually. Lydia Manning, R.N. Colorado Springs, Colo.
If you believe that we are here for a purpose, with the ultimate objective of going to a better place, then religion is good medicine. If you believe that we are the equivalent of a bunch of ants scurrying around, headed toward oblivion, then it probably isn’t. I choose to believe the former. Howard C. Hathcoat Winnetka, Ill.
Those of us who serve as pastoral-care ministers at hospitals observe the moments of healing that prayer brings to the patients. Listening to their thoughts and feelings, holding their hands or just tucking in the blanket can often replace the recitation of formal prayers. Carol Ann Roberts Dumond Prides Crossing, Mass.
We in traditional medicine need to acknowledge and embrace the healing power of spirituality in providing consolation and comfort during life’s difficult journeys. As a professor of medical oncology and as a board-certified physician in hospice medicine and end-of-life issues, I have for more than 30 years seen patients with far-advanced illnesses, and I can clearly document, as can many physicians, that there are many whose recovery cannot be explained by traditional medical interventions. Many clinicians such as I have the CT scans, the biopsy reports and the follow-up analyses that show the disease has simply disappeared or its rate of growth has slowed for reasons that we cannot explain. The vast majority of my cancer patients clearly acknowledge that spirituality and a belief in a “higher power” is the source of tremendous peace and comfort during troublesome times. Edward T. Creagan, M.D., Professor Mayo Clinic Medical School Rochester, Minn.
What Prof. Richard Sloan should include in his book is the understanding that the sick, injured and dying pray not only for heavenly intervention in their illness but also for protection against the arrogance leading to incompetence of some members of the medical profession. If the medical profession won’t adequately police itself, then prayer is of limited benefit. Everett W. Yaps Hebron, Conn.
Loving intentions–what some people call prayer–is the greatest healer. Isn’t that what we are really talking about, loving ourselves and others? And wouldn’t it be easier to then train doctors to assist patients in areas of compassion, forgiveness and generosity (the bedrock of all major religions), as social counselors are already doing, than having them get bogged down in Religion with a capital “R”? Gene Golus North Massapequa, N.Y.
Isn’t it silly to believe that a supposedly almighty and omniscient creator has to be implored, coaxed and cajoled into helping people recover from illness? Why heal only some and ignore the rest? John E. LeMoult Xenia, Ohio
Forget the philosophical questions concerning the impact of religion on health; everyone is making the issue much too complicated. Whether you have a God, a dog or a marital partner, you’re going to live longer and have a better chance of healing from illness when you’re not alone. And there is plenty of solid research showing that loneliness kills and psychological and emotional support sustains. Rondi Lightmark Rhinecliff, N.Y.
CBS and ‘The Reagans’ Flap
CBS’s capitulation to protestations on “The Reagans” is somewhat understandable, given its dependence on advertisers and viewers (“The War Over the Gipper,” Nov. 10). But that doesn’t fully justify the network’s decision to pull the mini-series. Surely it knew the project would draw the fire of the supporters of this nearly deified former president. Showtime has already set a precedent for dramatic license with its recent movie “DC 9/11: Time of Crisis” (really a campaign ad for George W. Bush), featuring fictionalized conversations between Bush and White House officials (funny, I don’t recall any furor over that). But what’s really troubling here is that this is another example of intolerance of free expression by those in power. The American people don’t expect perfection of their leaders, but they do expect some measure of greatness. If Reagan truly had that, then nothing in a TV movie can alter it. Apparently, Reagan’s supporters don’t have enough faith in his legacy to trust the rest of us to make that decision for ourselves. Tustin Amole Denver, Colo.
When someone like Barbara Streisand and her liberal, anti-Republican friends get their way, it’s all about artistic freedom and the First Amendment. When they do not get their way, it’s considered censorship and an evil plot by Republicans and conservative zealots determined to trample free speech. No major network nor any members of the Hollywood crowd have come up with “The Clintons.” Considering the track record of Bill and Hillary, the titillation factors would be astronomical. Instead, CBS came up with a fictionalized smear of one of our most popular presidents. Pitiful indeed. Don Potts Ft. Mill, S.C.
Consecration of a Gay Bishop
George F. Will’s conclusion that there is a limit to how “elastic” membership in a group can be is completely true, but homosexuality is the wrong issue with which to make such a point (“The Limits of Inclusiveness,” Nov. 10). Just as the demons of Galileo, epilepsy and left-handedness turned out not to be issues of “inclusiveness,” so will homosexuality. Science will soon show that homosexuality is a biological variant that has nothing to do with religion, sin or choice. The Rt. Rev. John Spong is correct in his assessment that a “very superstitious kind of Christianity” is asserting itself. Truth revealed by science cannot contradict the ultimate truth of God. That the church clings to that which is demonstrably untrue is an indictment of the church, not science or God. Larry Van Horn Springfield, Va.
It seems that some in the Episcopal Church and others, including mine, the United Methodists, have changed the longstanding belief that “the church is governed by Scripture as illuminated by tradition and reason” to the idea that it is “Scripture as eliminated by tradition and reason.” More and more, I find people willing to disregard significant portions of Scripture just because it doesn’t sound right to them. Church leaders are to be held above moral reproach. What is next? Perhaps we should allow public adulterers to attain positions of leadership within the church. There is no longer a moral or Biblical mandate not to, at least not in the Episcopal Church. Sonja Hill Greenville, Texas
George F. Will shows in his exquisite article the basic fallibility of the problem of endless inclusiveness. Total tolerance of everything, just because someone somewhere believes it, is a fine example of free speech. But it is not an organizing principle for a stable society. The price of citizenship must be extracted somewhere. Free speech is a right; some adherence to organizing principles is a duty and a necessity for survival as a nation or an organization. Patricia Miller Williamston, Mich.
I sense that George F. Will thinks Episcopalians in New Hampshire elected Gene Robinson in order to be polite or relevant. Not so. We chose the person we believed the Spirit of God was leading us to elect. Doing so has led the Episcopal Church into a proud tradition of work on issues critical to God’s people, even if it was not always popular: civil rights, women in ministry, relief for indebted nations and AIDS patients, etc. In that spirit of discernment and openness, we found that Robinson was the gift God was offering to us. We knew he was not a politically savvy nor a popular choice, but choosing him was a faithful response to much conversation and prayer, not polls. I’ve worked with Robinson for almost a decade and I don’t believe I know a more faithful, compassionate and Christ-like pastor. Personally, I can’t wait to work for–and with–this man of God, and I’m proud to have him as my next bishop. The Rev. Peter R. Coffin St. James Episcopal Church Keene, N.H.
Correction
In a recent list of medications for ADHD (“Tailoring the Treatment,” Sept. 22), we noted that some can be “crushed or split,” while others should be taken whole. Metadate CD, Ritalin LA and Adderall XR can be opened and sprinkled into food, but the contents of these capsules should not be crushed. Ritalin, Dexedrine and Adderall tablets can all be safely crushed, but Dexedrine Spansules should not be crushed or chewed.
