The current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine addresses recent studies trying to link religion, prayer and medical effectiveness. But prescribing prayer is probably premature, researchers say. Past Prayer Studies Poor Sloan's team said the idea that religious activities make people healthier comes from studies that have not been well designed, produce vague conclusions, and generate sometimes conflicting results. For example, some researchers use church attendance as a measure of religiousness, making no distinction between Quaker meetings and Roman Catholic masses. Nor do such studies account for the stresses people feel when they change their denomination, sometimes over their family's objections, said Sloan and his colleagues.
Religious practices can be disruptive as well as healing.
There is evidence that early rather than late childbearing may reduce the risk of various cancers, but we would recoil at a physician's recommendation that a young woman, either married or single, have a child to reduce her risk of cancer. The Sloan group said people should recognize that studies attempting to link religious experience to health are sometimes an attempt to validate religion. Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.