What is Christian health care?

Christian health care could mean many different things. It could be a Christian mission set up in a developing nation to give locals access to quality health care they wouldn.t have otherwise. It could be a non-profit community health organization geared toward elder care and Christian-based psychological counseling. Or it could simply be the thorough and sensitive care received from a doctor who is also a practicing and faithful Christian.

Christian health care is a typically a term used to describe the ethics, faith and philosophies of the people administering health care support. Some people may prefer to go to a Christian health care provider because it is important to them that their doctor shares their values and viewpoint in life.

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Because it is essential to feel comfortable with your doctor, having something in common as important as faith may help facilitate the trust, and interpersonal connection needed to build a strong doctor-patient relationship. Some people like that with a Christian health care provider they are not only getting quality health care but added and necessary spiritual support on their journey back to health.

Because faith is such an integral part of healing, having faith in your doctor and a higher faith in your healing process is crucial. Because illness can be a time of trauma, confusion, anger and crisis of faith for many individuals, having strong spiritual support can be an important, stabilizing component on the road to recovery. Christian health care may therefore add the element of faith a healing program needs to strengthen and speed of recovery.

The importance of faith in healing

The importance of faith in medicine is not simply a belief of the devout. This concept is enjoying mainstream acceptance at many medical schools in the country. Classes in spirituality and medicine are not just taught at medical schools affiliated with Christian health care establishments or other religious groups, they are currently being offered at almost half of the mainstream medical schools in the country.

These classes are nondenominational, meaning they don.t teach students about topics in Jewish, Buddhist or Christian health care. Rather these medical classes teach students how to talk to patients about the relationship between faith and illness. The courses are offered because patients are beginning to demand that doctors improve their spiritual bedside manners.

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Spiritual and Christian health care demand on the rise

A poll conducted by and published in Newsweek magazine shows that "72 percent of Americans say they would welcome a conversation with their physician about faith; the same number say they believe that praying to God can cure someone.even if science says the person doesn.t stand a chance."

The article goes on to say that "On Beliefnet, a popular interfaith Web site, fully three quarters of more than 35,000 online prayer circles are health related: patients' loved ones-.as well as total strangers-can log on and send prayers into the electronic ether, hoping to heal cancers, disabilities, chronic illness and addiction."

"Popular practices like these, as well as the growing belief in the medical community that what happens in a person.s mind (and, possibly, soul) can be as important to health as what happens on the cellular level, are leading many doctors to embrace the God they banished from the clinic long ago in favor of technological and pharmaceutical progress." (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3339654/)

Reconciling spiritual and Christian health care with science

Religiously sensitive health care does not have to clash with science. Christian health care for example can increase the potency of scientific health care by providing a more receptive and open patient for the treatment. The placebo effect, a scientifically proven phenomenon, illustrates the power of faith and the power of the mind in healing the body.

If a sugar pill can produce amazing healing results simply because a patient firmly believes in its efficacy, imagine what believing in the strength of a healing higher power can do? Add in the belief in the power of prayer. When facing an illness with faith and positive attitude, studies show that chances for recovery improve significantly. This is the power inherent in Christian health care.

The trend toward Christian health care and the relationship between religion and medicine

The basic tenets behind Christian health care are currently being explored all over the country in the medical establishment. The Newsweek article points out the interest emerging in the relationship between spirituality and health. It is giving birth to the new complimentary medicine. "All over the medical establishment, legitimate scientists are seeking the most ethical, effective ways to combine patients. spiritual and religious beliefs with high-tech treatment."

"Former mutual-fund tycoon Sir John Templeton spends as much as $30 million a year funding scientific projects that explore the nature of God. The Anatomy of Hope, a meditation on the effects of optimism and faith on health, by New Yorker medical writer Jerome Groopman, M.D., is coming out early next year."

"The National Institutes of Health plans to spend $3.5 million over the next several years on "mind/body" medicine. And this weekend Harvard Medical School will hold a conference on spirituality and health, focusing on the healing effects of forgiveness. "There's been a tremendous shift in the medical profession's openness to this topic," says Dr. Andrew Newberg, a neurologist at the University of Pennsylvania who is studying the biological effects of meditation and prayer on the brain. 'People like me are very intrigued by what we're seeing.'"

This mainstream shift to recognizing the importance of faith and faith-friendly doctors in healing patients has put a new spin and importance on the term Christian health care. It no longer describes simply the denomination of the health-care provider, but a focus on the role of spirituality and faith in obtaining an optimal state of health.

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