Religion And Medicine

By Author: Patty Sargeant
Total Articles: 29
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While modern medical professionals argue that science can find a cure for cancer and AIDS if not today, then someday, others opine that diseases have their roots in a person's psychological and emotional state. Some doctors assert that physical illnesses are a manifestation of internal problems that go deeper than physiology.

There was a time when priests performed the function performed today by doctors. Superstition dominated healing practices. For example, people with leprosy were considered impure and sinful. Some believed that illnesses were God's way of punishing sinners. The line between religious beliefs and scientific facts was blurred.

With the documentation of medical knowledge and the introduction of experimental investigation, medicine underwent rapid development, challenging the position of religion as the bearer of medical knowledge and of priests as the source of that knowledge. Scientists studied and described the anatomy of the brain. The invention of the microscope led to the discovery of germs and microorganisms.

The development of medicine created a kind of division between physiology ...
... and psychology. In the past, people believed that the root of sickness is sadness, guilt, and emotional instability. Hence, priests also served as counselors to patients who wanted to get better. People also underwent meditation and mental relaxation, similar to Thetahealing. As a healing method, it proposes that the source of illnesses is one's emotional state.

Doctors administer medical procedures to cure diseases; dysfunctional human organs are repaired through pharmacological methods or through medical procedures, including surgery. In hospitals, doctor-patient conversations revolve around the patient's medical history. However, doctors have found out that some illnesses cannot merely be cured through medication. Most patients have problems other than physical pain. Because of this, some medical professionals are trying to reinvent the use of counseling and Theta healing in treating their patients' diseases.

Modern medicine seems to have reverted back to the old belief that diseases are caused by psychological and emotional difficulties. These days, some doctors administer counseling sessions to their patients, similar to what priests in the old times did, as part of their healing process. Further, other doctors recognize the significance of mental relaxation and Theta healing in human health.