Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-05-14
divine POWER
AIDS Medicine
SAY PROBERS
Faith Cure Is Effective in
Functional Disorders, Is the
Report of Committee.
FAMOUS SCIENTISTS GIVE
RESULTS OF THEIR STUDY
Clerical and Medical Board, Ap-
pointed in 1911, Give Out
Report of Committee
tBy Latest Mail

/ LONDON.-An important contribu
ltion to one of the foremost topics 81
the day Is found in the report Of The
Committee on Spiritual Healing. or
Faith Cure" appointed by the Con
ference Of the Clerical and Medical
Professions held in October. 1911.
The committee, which is composed
of prominent clergymen and doctors,
In its conclusions, says:
| The members of the committee
fully recognize that operations Of d.
vine power Is exercised In conformity
with will, and they desire to express
their belief In the efficacy Of prayer.
They reyerently believe, however, d.
vine power is exercised In conformity
with and through the operation Of
, natural laws.
with advancing knowledge Of these
laws, increasing benefits are being
secured for mankind through human
fundamentally Especially is, this
+ the case in the healing OF disorders
| OF the body and the mind. and they
consider that spiritual ministratiOn
should be recognized equally with
medical ministration, as carrying
Gods blessing to the sick
Spiritual Healing.
The committee is OF the opinion
that the physical results Of what y
called faith or spiritual healing does
not prove different from those Of
mental healing or healing by sugges-
ton.
4The committee recognizes that
suggestion Is more effectively exer-
cised by some persons than others
which would seem to explain the gifts
claimed by .healers The use Of rel
ligious influences does not differ ess
Isentially from non-religious appeals
to the mind, yet the former are often
more potent.
Faith or spiritual healing can be
permanently effective only in func-
tional disorders as distinguished from
organic disorders, and the COMMITTEES
warns against resorting to healers and
postponing medical treatment
Spiritual ministration may contrib
ute to the success OF medical treat.
ment, and we desire to see more i'm.
,portanee attached 10 them, but We
strongly deprecate the independent
treatment Of disease by Irresponsible
and unqualified persons.
Prominent Men on Committee.
The membership of the committee
Includes Herbert E. Ryie. dean Of
Westminster; H. II Henson, dean Of
Durham; William R. Inge, dean Of
st. Raul,s: Henry Z. Paget, bishop Of
Stepney, and Archdeacon Sinclair
Among the medical members are SIR
Dyce Duckworth, Sir Richard Doug
las Powell, Theodore B. Hyslop, and
Sir Thomas Clifford Allbutt
The witnesses examined by the
committee differed in their definitions
of spiritual and mental healing. Some
regarded the former as divine In
terposition above the laws of nature,
while most Of them connected spifs
itual healing today with the gifts Of
healing of the apostolic church. say.
ing they thought these had long been
dormant, although never wholly In
terrupted
The witnesses differed widely as to
whether moral excellence in the heal
ers or the healed was essential for
success.
4 Most of them gave convincing evi.
dence of beneficial results in func-
tional nervous disorders and cases Of
alcoholism and drug-taking, but NOT
one gave satisfactory evidence of any
case Of organic disease cured by spir.
itual or faith healing alone.