A missing benefit from the health care law

Posted on July 22, 2011 by mochristianscience

My colleague in Southern California wrote this opinion piece which appeared in the San Diego Union Tribune.  Read more of Don’s entries here.  Don’s points echo strongly here in Missouri.  As we struggle to set up the health exchanges, politics and misunderstandings run rampant.

One such misunderstanding is that this means that government will pay for prayer.  Since these exchanges are simply structured by the government, Missouri can “fire wall” the different types of care.  So that it does not require taxpayers to fund prayer in this example, while offering and recognizing a whole host of different types of care.  I might add these types of care are the choices that Americans are asking for in large numbers.  Read on! 

 

By Donald W. Ingwerson

July 8,2011

The federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is more than a year old and, according to news releases, California is considered a leading state in implementation of the law.

But is it? Continue reading →

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Medical-industrial complex profits: benefit or bane?

Posted on July 21, 2011 by mochristianscience

Thoughts from Ohio!  The Buckeye State!  Steven Salt @saltseasoned (his Twitter handle) is a colleague reviewing a recent editorial.  Enjoy.

 

The profit oriented medical industry in the United States has long been the target of both admiration and disdain. Credited with many health advances, it has yet to find an economic breakthrough that would allow the average American to benefit from its developments.

The profit factor has contributed to a failure of leadership in the health-industrial complex according to Margaret Wente of the Canadian Globe and Mail. In an editorial earlier this month titled “It’s evening in America”, Wente writes that this leadership vacuum is the direct result of what seems an unstoppable focus on revenue generation. And this single-mindedness on profit will be its undoing.

“Medical corruption, influence-peddling and the inflation of research results are serious problems, although they rarely make front-page news,” according to Wente. Continue reading →

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Letter in Wall Street Journal – “Prayer has a role in treating illness”

Posted on July 19, 2011 by mochristianscience

On July 8, 2011, Mitch Horowitz wrote a column for The Wall Street Journal titled “When spirituality kills.” In response, Russ Gerber, spokesperson for the Christian Science Church, submitted a letter to the editor, which has been published.

Click here for the letter posted on the WSJ.com or here to read the letter onwww.christianscience.com.

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IS THERE A GOD IN HEALTH CARE?

Posted on July 18, 2011 by mochristianscience

Guest Writer, Bob Clark, who is my counterpart down in the sunshine state of Florida writes some compelling thoughts about the national conversation raging about the connection of spirituality and our health.  Thank you Bob for this quality addition to the discussion.

 

This is the title of a interesting book by William F. Haynes, Jr. and Geffrey B. Kelly, published by Haworth Press in 2006. But the book’s subtitle, “Toward a New Spirituality of Medicine” is what intrigues me most.


The connection between spirituality and health certainly isn’t new. The Bible offers many examples of health restored through spiritual means alone. What may be new is the current awakening to the potential of spiritualized thought to not only restore health on an individual level but to help heal a critically ill health care system. Continue reading →

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Rethinking the universe

Posted on July 16, 2011 by mochristianscience

Saturday’s Guest Contributor is Sharon Frey with the Christian Science Committee on Publication’s office.  I enjoyed reading her thoughts on the progress of Quantum physics and what traditional thought behavior will it shatter next!

 

Photo by Stéphane O

Living in a Quantum World.  The June cover of Scientific American really caught my eye. It seems that for a while now, physicists have been saying yes, quantum mechanics exists, but it only applies to a category of small things, very small things. However, the author of this article, along with a growing chorus of other physicists, says it looks like quantum mechanics applies to bigger things too.

So what?

The author, Vlatko Vedral, writes, “In a quantum world, a particle does not just have to take one path at one time; it can take all of them simultaneously.” All of them, at the same time. Imagine if you or I could take various paths simultaneously. That would really break our concepts of space and time. My understanding is that sometimes physicists refer to this as non-locality, or perhaps, infinity. Continue reading →

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Other Voices: Stanford Scope on the Health Benefits of Prayer

Posted on July 15, 2011 by mochristianscience
Today’s Guest Writer is my colleague out west from Northern California.  Eric Nelson.  Eric always comes up with some great thoughts from different studies and “Other Voices.”   The conversation about health and the different options in delivering care for health.

Eric Nelson

According to Dr. Candy Gunther Brown, religious studies professor at Indiana University Bloomington, “It is a primary privilege and responsibility of medical science to pursue a better understanding of therapeutic inventions [e.g. prayer] that may advance global health, especially in contexts where conventional medical treatments are inadequate or unavailable.”
This is actually the “punch line” to this week’s “Other Voices” column, brought to you courtesy of Stanford Scope, the blog of Stanford School of Medicine.
I was intrigued by the idea that prayer could be particularly helpful in situations “where conventional medical treatments are inadequate or unavailable.”  When you think about it, this could apply to just about anyone, anytime, anywhere.
For instance, a good friend of mine was cured of medically diagnosed cancer solely through prayer after medical treatment proved to be inadequate.  And I can think of more than a few times when I found myself in situations where medical treatment was definitely unavailable and I was able to rely on prayer, not just for comfort, but for quick and complete physical healing as well. Continue reading →
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Lasting Health Benefits of Religious Attendance

Posted on July 14, 2011 by mochristianscience

Guest writer today is my colleague from Texas; AKA “the texas spur” explores the connections of health, church, and spiritual consciousness.  Enjoy Thinking and Pondering!

 

You say you were dragged to church every week? You didn’t want to go? Your mother insisted it was good for you?

Well, she was right. And in even more ways than she imagined.

Turns out, if you’re concerned about your health, church is the place to be.

Jeff Levin in his book, God, Faith, and Health: Exploring the Spirituality Healing Connection, explains: Continue reading →

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ICONS IN THE KREMLIN

Posted on July 13, 2011 by mochristianscience

Guest post today is from my colleague from the great state of Virginia, Roger Whiteway.  Roger brings some good thoughts to the conversation of anecdotal and empirical based health evidence.  Thank you Roger!  Click here to read more from Roger.

The Assumption Catherdral - On Kremlin Grounds

In listening to several colleagues today recount their visit to discuss Christian Science with a number of health and religion reporters from a large Midwestern newspaper, I was not surprised to hear that a concern that these reporters had in running stories about prayer-based healing and health based on something other than medicine, is lack of factual documented evidence.

Christian Science testimonies of healing are considered anecdotal evidence compared to medical science which can site large studies with lots of data. This concern applies to any prayer-based healing, not just to Christian Science. Continue reading →

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Rabbi Hyim Shafner: “Framing physical beauty in a new light”

Posted on July 11, 2011 by mochristianscience

On Saturday, after sweating through some light-duty yard work, I sat down with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Every Saturday there is a page called “Belief in St. Louis.”  It tells of news events of the different churches in the area.  There is also an area for bloggers online to share.  This community of bloggers is “Civil Religion.”

Especially interesting was the lead article by Rabbi Hyim Shafner.  Click here to read all of his entries.

 

Watching three beatiful daughters grow up, I have had many opportunities to think more deeply about what defines our concept of beauty and how that connects to all areas of our life.  How we look at ourselves, both in the mirror and inwardly, affects areas of our self-esteem, our self-confidence, and our interactions with others.  More deeply, how we define ourselves and our “beauty” affects both our physical and mental health.   Continue reading →

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A new breed of scientist-educator

Posted on June 28, 2011 by mochristianscience

GUEST POST: Florida friend and colleague Bob Clark highlights the work of a new breed of educators who find that thought and health may be more related to God than previously thought.

Something wonderful is going on in Gainesville. The University of Florida’s Center for Spirituality and Health is offering aspiring healthcare providers the chance to consider the powerful role of spirituality in their healthcare practice.

I met yesterday with Dr. Lou Ritz, PhD, Director of the Center for Spirituality and Health at UF. We talked for 90 minutes about the basis of his work, his ongoing research into spirituality and health, and how he counsels students. Below are some highlights: Continue reading →

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