Realized Religion - Research On The Relationship Between Religion And Health

Realized RELIGION Research on the Relationship between Religion and Health Realized RELIGION Theodore J. Chamberlain and Christopher A. Hall Templeton Foundation Press Philadelphia & London Templeton Foundation Press Five Radnor Corporate Center, Suite 120 100 Matsonford Road Radnor, Pennsylvania 19087 © 2000 by Theodore J. Chamberlain and Christopher A. Hall All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of Templeton Foundation Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Chamberlain, Theodore J. Realized religion : research on the relationship between religion and health / Theodore J. Chamberlain and Christopher A. Hall. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. Eeisbn 1-890151-83-1 1. Health—Religious aspects. 2. Health—Religious aspects—Bibliography. I. Hall, Christopher A. (Christopher Alan), 1950 – II. Title. bl65.m4 c48 2000 291.1⬘75—dc21 00-064935 Designed by Martha Farlow Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: Realized Religion Defined vii 3 part one The Relationship of Realized Religion to Prayer and Healing 11 The Role of Prayer in Health and Healing Bibliography 12 Faith Healing Bibliography 29 57 66 75 part two The Relationship of Realized Religion to Well-Being 13 Mental Health Bibliography 14 Life Satisfaction Bibliography 15 Mental Disorders 16 Marital Satisfaction Bibliography 17 Suicide Bibliography 83 101 118 138 142 158 166 169 188 vi contents 18 Alcohol Use and Abuse Bibliography 189 198 part three The Relationship of Realized Religion to Future Research 19 The Need for Religious Values in Empirical Research 10 Christianity: A Model of Realized Religion’s Relationship to Health 205 217 Acknowledgments W E W O U L D L I K E to acknowledge the assistance of Christine Weigel, who was our research assistant, and Jaynette Arrington, who also assisted with research and attended to the manuscript as it developed. We are grateful to the John Templeton Foundation, which provided funding support for this project. Realized RELIGION Introduction Realized Religion Defined TO BE RELIGIOUS, in the ordinary sense of the word, is to engage in a never-ending quest for spiritual fulfillment, to seek purpose and meaning in the face of the confusion, complexity, and occasional chaos that life presents to each of us. To be religious is to journey toward peace and comfort sometimes found in and through the structure of doctrine, religious ritual, and the spiritual disciplines. To be religious is to place trust in a higher authority by yielding one’s own independence and self-serving will to the presumed omniscience of an all-wise and knowledgeable God. To be religious is to act “morally” with a sense of justice and with care for the well-being of others. To be religious, at least for Christians, is to hope for life after death, to be finally reconciled with the God of the universe; it is to engage life in the here and now with an expectation for spiritual reunion in the hereafter. But what of health, happiness, well-being, psychological integration, and even prosperity? Are these the fruits of religion? Few religions teach that believers should expect health or wealth as a primary reward for being religious (although some “name it, claim it” forms of charismatic Christianity actually might). In the end religious people suffer—witness the ancient travails of Job and the modern-day afflictions of the Palestinians, Bosnians, Irish, Jews, and Kosovars—and religious people die (perhaps having lived slightly longer). 4 introduc