Faith healing

"Faith healer" redirects here. For other uses, see Faith healer (disambiguation).
The prophet Elijah praying for the recovery of the son of the widow of Zarephath, from the Bible's Books of Kings
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Faith healing is the practice of prayer and gestures (such as laying on of hands) that are believed by some to elicit divine intervention in spiritual and physical healing, especially the Christian practice.[1] Believers assert that the healing of disease and disability can be brought about by religious faith through prayer or other rituals that, according to adherents, can stimulate a divine presence and power. Religious belief in divine intervention does not depend on empirical evidence of an evidence-based outcome achieved via faith healing.[2] Virtually all[a] scientists and philosophers dismiss faith healing as pseudoscience.[3][4][5][6]

Claims that "a myriad of techniques" such as prayer, divine intervention, or the ministrations of an individual healer can cure illness have been popular throughout history.[7] There have been claims that faith can cure blindness, deafness, cancer, HIV/AIDS, developmental disorders, anemia, arthritis, corns, defective speech, multiple sclerosis, skin rashes, total body paralysis, and various injuries.[8] Recoveries have been attributed to many techniques commonly classified as faith healing. It can involve prayer, a visit to a religious shrine, or simply a strong belief in a supreme being.[8]

Many people interpret the Bible, especially the New Testament, as teaching belief in, and the practice of, faith healing. According to a 2004 Newsweek poll, 72 percent of Americans said they believe that praying to God can cure someone, even if science says the person has an incurable disease.[9] Unlike faith healing, advocates of spiritual healing make no attempt to seek divine intervention, instead believing in divine energy. The increased interest in alternative medicine at the end of the 20th century has given rise to a parallel interest among sociologists in the relationship of religion to health.[2]

Faith healing can be classified as a spiritual, supernatural,[10] or paranormal topic,[11] and, in some cases, belief in faith healing can be classified as magical thinking.[12] The American Cancer Society states "available scientific evidence does not support claims that faith healing can actually cure physical ailments".[8] "Death, disability, and other unwanted outcomes have occurred when faith healing was elected instead of medical care for serious injuries or illnesses."[8] When parents have practiced faith healing but not medical care, many children have died that otherwise would have been expected to live.[13] Similar results are found in adults.[14]

  1. ^ "Faith healing". thearda.com. University Park, PA: Association of Religion Data Archives. Archived from the original on 2016-01-01. Retrieved 2015-10-24. Citing Smith, Jonathan; Green, William Scott, eds. (1995). The HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion. San Francisco, CA: HarperCollins. p. 355.
  2. ^ a b Village, Andrew (2005). "Dimensions of belief about miraculous healing". Mental Health, Religion & Culture. 8 (2): 97–107. doi:10.1080/1367467042000240374. S2CID 15727398.
  3. ^ a b Mahner, Martin (2013). Pigliucci, Massimo; Boudry, Maarten (eds.). Philosophy of pseudoscience reconsidering the demarcation problem (Online-Ausg. ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 30. ISBN 978-0226051826. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  4. ^ Hassani, Sadri (2010). From Atoms to Galaxies: A Conceptual Physics Approach to Scientific Awareness. CRC Press. p. 641. ISBN 978-1439882849. Retrieved 18 April 2018. There are also activities that, although not classified (or claimed) as science, have implications that trespass into the scientific territories. Examples of this category of activities are the claim that we have been visited by aliens riding unidentified flying objects, all psychic phenomena, and faith healing. We study the nature of all these activities under the general heading of pseudoscience. …
  5. ^ Erzinclioglu, Zakaria (2000). Every Contact Leaves a Trace: Scientific Detection in the Twentieth Century. Carlton Books. p. 60. ISBN 978-1842221617. For example, most scientists dismiss the notion of faith-healing, a phenomenon for which there is a certain amount of evidence.
  6. ^ See also:

    Pitt, Joseph C.; Pera, Marcello (2012). Rational Changes in Science: Essays on Scientific Reasoning. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-9400937796. Retrieved 18 April 2018. Such examples of pseudoscience as the theory of biorhythms, astrology, dianetics, creationism, faith healing may seem too obvious examples of pseudoscience for academic readers.

    Zerbe, Michael J. (2007). Composition and the Rhetoric of Science: Engaging the Dominant Discourse. SIU Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-0809327409. [T]he authors of the 2002 National Science Foundation Science and Engineering Indicators devoted and entire section of their report to the concern that the public is increasingly trusting in pseudoscience such as astrology, UFOs and alien abduction, extrasensory perception, channeling the dead, faith healing, and psychic hotlines.

    Robert Cogan (1998). Critical Thinking: Step by Step. University Press of America. p. 217. ISBN 978-0761810674. Faith healing is probably the most dangerous pseudoscience.

    Leonard, Bill J.; Crainshaw, Jill Y. (2013). Encyclopedia of Religious Controversies in the United States: A–L. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1598848670. Retrieved 18 April 2018. Certain approaches to faith healing are also widely considered to be pseudoscientific, including those of Christian Science, voodoo, and Spiritualism.
  7. ^ Barrett, Stephen (December 27, 2009). "Some Thoughts about Faith Healing". Quackwatch. Archived from the original on 2014-02-09. Retrieved 2014-01-23.
  8. ^ a b c d "Faith Healing". American Cancer Society. 2013-01-17. Archived from the original on 2013-04-27.
  9. ^ Kalb, Claudia (2003-11-09). "Faith & Healing". Newsweek. 142 (19): 44–50, 53–54, 56. PMID 16124185.
  10. ^ Walker, Barbara; McClenon, James (1995). "6". Out of the Ordinary: Folklore and the supernatural. Utah State University Press. pp. 107–121. ISBN 978-0874211962. Retrieved May 19, 2015. Supernatural experiences provide a foundation for spiritual healing. The concept supernatural is culturally specific, since some societies regard all perceptions as natural; yet certain events-such as apparitions, out-of-body and near-death experiences, extrasensory perceptions, precognitive dreams, and contact with the dead-promote faith in extraordinary forces. Supernatural experiences can be defined as those sensations directly supporting occult beliefs. Supernatural experiences are important because they provide an impetus for ideologies supporting occult healing practices, the primary means of medical treatment throughout antiquity.
  11. ^ Martin, M (1994). "Pseudoscience, the paranormal, and science education" (PDF). Science and Education. 3 (4): 357–371. Bibcode:1994Sc&Ed...3..357M. doi:10.1007/BF00488452. S2CID 22730647. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-07-13. Retrieved 2014-09-24. Cures allegedly brought about by religious faith are, in turn, considered to be paranormal phenomena but the related religious practices and beliefs are not pseudoscientific since they usually have no scientific pretensions.
  12. ^ Lesser, R; Paisner, M (March–April 1985). "Magical thinking in Formal Operational adults". Human Development. 28 (2): 57–70. doi:10.1159/000272942.
  13. ^ Asser, Seth M.; Swan, Rita (April 1998). "Child fatalities from religion-motivated medical neglect" (PDF). Pediatrics. 101 (4): 625–629. doi:10.1542/peds.101.4.625. PMID 9521945. S2CID 169037. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2012-04-17. Retrieved 2007-11-19.
  14. ^ Simpson, William F. (1989). "Comparative longevity in a college cohort of Christian Scientists". JAMA. 262 (12): 1657–1658. doi:10.1001/jama.1989.03430120111031. PMID 2769921.


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