Saturday, February 12, 2005
Doctors often operate on faith
A national survey of nearly 1,100 physicians offers a couple of revelations about doctors' views on faith, prayer and miracles.
First, it shows that physicians -- although educated in the empirical sciences -- are far more religious personally and more open professionally to the possibility of divine intervention than you might expect.
Seventy-four percent of U.S. doctors believe divine miracles have occurred, and 73 percent believe they can occur today. Surprisingly, 55 percent say they've seen medical results in patients that they could describe only as miracles.
Second, the survey shows that, despite this general finding, doctors of differing spiritual traditions vary widely in their views of religion's importance in their own lives or in their medical practices. Those polled included various types of Christians and Jews, as well as Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and unspecified others.
"I was initially surprised" by the overall depth of physicians' religious beliefs, said Alan Mittleman, a professor of philosophy at the seminary and-director of the Finkelstein-Institute. I spoke with him by phone.
But the more he pondered the survey's findings, the more sense they made, he said: "Doctors are not just people working with white coats in labs. They work at the intersection of life and death."
You can see detailed results of the poll at the Jewish seminary's Web site: www.jtsa.edu/ research/finkelstein. Click on "public interest surveys."
Here are a few of the findings:
• Of 1,087 doctors surveyed, 61.5 percent identify themselves as belonging to some category of Christianity (divided by the pollsters into Roman Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox and other Christian). Nearly one-fourth say they're Jewish.
• Of all doctors, 34.1 percent are "literal" believers in the tenets of their faiths; 65.9 percent are "liberal" members.
• Most likely to visit a house of worship daily or weekly: Orthodox Jews, 82.3 percent. By comparison, 53 percent of Protestants attend services at least once a week. Eleven percent of all physicians never worship at a church, synagogue, temple or mosque.
• Overall, 46 percent of doctors say prayer is "very important" in their personal and professional lives. Among Muslims, 66.7 percent say it's very important; among Orthodox Jews, 76.5 percent; among Orthodox Christians, 70 percent.
• Among Orthodox Jews, 82.4 percent frequently read religious texts; 86 percent of Reform Jews don't.
• About 60 percent of Protestant and Orthodox Christians think the Bible's accounts of miracles, such as the parting of the Red Sea, are literally true, but only 35.4 percent of Roman Catholic doctors think so.
• The vast majority of Christian doctors pray for patients, including 71.3 percent of Roman Catholics, 76.5 percent of Protestants and 81.6 percent of other Christians. Among physicians who describe themselves as Jewish by culture but not actively observant in their faith, nine in 10 don't pray for patients.
• Three-fourths of Orthodox Christians and other Christians say they've seen patients receive miraculous healings.
Paul Prather
herald-leader contributing columnist
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