TruthBook Religious News Blog

You might remember those startling billboard messages back in 1999-2000 ...

"We need to talk. — God."
"Have you read My #1 best-seller? There will be a test. — God."
"Loved the wedding, invite Me to the marriage. — God."
"That 'Love Thy Neighbor' thing — I meant it. — God."
"Let's meet at My house Sunday before the game. — God."

The "God Speaks" billboard series (about 20 divine "quotes" in all) was a national campaign of public service announcements sparked by an anonymous Florida donor to remind people of God's presence in their lives. It won awards. It got people talking. It displayed a creative flair for boiling down theology to a few words.

The campaign ended in 2001 — before 9/11. Now it's back — a new slate of messages for a changed world preoccupied with terrorism, war, political slugfests and reality shows.

Handling the campaign this time around is The DeMoss Group, a public relations firm in Atlanta. "We think the timing is right," president Mark DeMoss told AgapePress this past spring.

Nine new God quotes will be featured. I haven't seen any in Nashville yet, but published reports have disclosed at least three of the messages. It seems the Almighty has been following the culture wars and watching prime-time TV:

"The real Supreme Court meets up here. — God."
"As my apprentice, you're never fired. — God."
"It's a small world ... I know ... I made it. — God."

Will the new campaign work? Did the old campaign?

Few would deny the billboards are fresh, clever, even thought-provoking — a welcome relief on the cluttered landscape of roadside commercial signs.

They are, in fact, a sign of the times.

A generation or two ago, no one would have thought (or dared) to create a slate of divine quips for an outdoor ad crusade. It was enough to read the Bible as the Word of God and find divine messages there. Traditional worship tones were reverential, respectful of silence, looking back to the theology and music of old Europe. God was considered mysterious, fearsome, if not remote. The traditionalist motto might come from Psalm 99: "The Lord is king; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!"

The climate has changed. Spirituality is far more brashly public than it was 30 years ago, far more the subject of news, movies, talk radio, novels, jewelry and roadside displays of piety such as memorial crosses and sanctified billboards.

Religion penetrates pop culture, and pop culture invades religion. This has a side effect. Religious expression has become more informal, conversational, marketable, less technical, less somber. "Casual" has been the surging trend in contemporary worship for 25 years. A theological revolution is afoot: The message is God is not inscrutable but accessible, approachable, relatable. Old formality gets swept away. The "God Speaks" billboard campaign fits with this market-friendly outlook and younger demographic.

Do the billboards make a difference? It's hard to find hard numbers that measure the direct impact of the "God Speaks" campaign. Did belief in God rise? Did worship increase? Last summer, two researchers at Michigan State University tried to assess the ad campaign. The results were inconclusive. They noted that the campaign was widely popular (more than 10,000 billboard displays), yet no discernable increase in belief in God was reported by Harris Polls or other surveys taken between 1999-2001, when "God Speaks" was in full swing.

By RAY WADDLE

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Wednesday, July 20, 2005

What Europe believes

A survey of almost 8,600 people in 14 European countries found that while seven out of ten Europeans believe in God, only just over half believe that there is life after death. The survey also revealed wide differences in religious perceptions between nationalities.

In Poland 97 per cent of those interviewed said they believed in God, Portugal had the second highest proportion of believers at 90 per cent and Russia had 87 per cent. At the lower end of the list were Belgium with 58 per cent, the Netherlands on 51 and at the bottom the Czech Republic, where only 37 per cent believe there is a God.

Four out of ten Europeans think religion is necessary to be able to distinguish between right and wrong. This conviction is strongest in Poland (86) and Russia (78), but people in the Czech Republic (27), the Netherlands (25) and France (24) are dubious.

The survey was conducted on behalf of Reader’s Digest in Germany and researchers found that Germany continues to be deeply divided, at least as far as religion is concerned, even 15 years after re-unification. In the former communist east 77 per cent are convinced atheists, compared to 22 per cent in the west.

65 per cent of those claiming to be believers resort to prayer to get in touch with God. Two thirds of all prayers are concerned with ‘people who are important to me’.

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Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Prayer, Noetic Studies Feasible; Results Indicate Benefit to Heart Patients

Cardiac patients who received intercessory prayer in addition to coronary stenting appeared to have better clinical outcomes than those treated with standard stenting therapy alone, according to researchers at Duke University Medical Center.

Their results further suggest that using rigorous scientific methods to study the therapeutic value of prayer and other noetic interventions appears feasible and warrants larger-scale, more definitive investigations. Noetic interventions are defined as "a healing influence performed without the use of a drug, device or surgical procedure," said the researchers.

Results of the phase I feasibility-pilot, known as the MANTRA (Monitoring and Actualization of Noetic TRAinings) Project, appear in the Nov. 1 issue of the American Heart Journal.

"We now know that clinically meaningful, high-quality research can be done in this area," said Duke cardiologist Dr. Mitch Krucoff, who co-directs the study with Suzanne Crater, a Duke nurse practitioner. "The data are suggestive that there may be a measurable therapeutic benefit related to noetic therapies in patients undergoing angioplasty."

Patients who received noetic therapies showed a 25 to 30 percent reduction in adverse outcomes (such as death, heart failure, post-procedural ischemia, repeat angioplasty or heart attack) than those without such therapies, according to the researchers. While increasingly popular outside of mainstream medicine, noetic therapies have not been widely studied with rigorous, scientific research methods. This study represents one of the first such efforts.

One hundred and fifty patients with acute coronary insufficiency at the Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center were enrolled in the prospective, randomized study from April 1997 to April 1998. All were scheduled for invasive cardiac procedures based on their clinical needs. In a five-way randomization, all patients were assigned (in equal distribution) to coronary stenting with standard care or to coronary stenting plus one of the following therapies: guided imagery, stress relaxation, healing touch or intercessory prayer. Of the 120 patients assigned noetic interventions, 118 (98 percent) completed the therapeutic assignment.

Differences in clinical outcomes between treatment groups were not statistically significant. However, those receiving noetic treatments "had lower absolute complication rates and a lower absolute incidence of post-procedural ischemia during hospitalization," said Crater.

"These noetic interventions help a patient achieve a state of calm equilibrium, or homeostasis, which puts them in a better state to help in their own recovery process," said Jon Seskevich, a Duke nurse clinician, who along with Crater, designed the non-prayer interventional therapies. He further noted that those assigned to receive prayer appeared to fare even better than those receiving the other types of noetic treatments and the control group.

Off-site, intercessory prayer was provided by seven prayer groups of varying denominations around the world. The groups included Buddhists, Catholics, Moravians, Jews, Fundamentalist Christians, Baptists and the Unity School of Christianity.

"The name, age and illness of each patient assigned to prayer therapy was sent to each prayer group," Crater said. "These patients had prayers from all over the world said on their behalf for healing and recovery."

"This is an important study because it provides preliminary information suggestive of a positive effect that needs further study in a larger study sample," said Dr. Harold G. Koenig, associate professor of psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center, and one of the study authors. "Some of the greatest scientific achievements have come from those who step outside of the box, and I believe that is what this study does. The results tend to lean toward prayer helping people, but more study is needed."

Research is continuing. Phase II of the MANTRA project has already enrolled nearly 500 patients out of an enrollment target of 1,500 patients. The larger study is underway at nine sites throughout the U.S., including Duke University Medical Center, Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, Washington Heart Center in Washington, Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, Scripps Clinic/Scripps Mercy Hospitals in San Diego, Geisinger Clinic in Danville, Pa., Florida Cardiovascular Center in Atlantis, Fla., and the Durham VAMC.

Preliminary data from this pilot study were previously reported at the 71st meeting of the American Heart Association in 1998. The American Heart Journal article represents the complete, tabulated, peer-reviewed results of the phase I study. Funding was provided in part by grants from G.E.-Marquette Electronics, Milwaukee; the Institute of Noetic Sciences, Sausalito, Calif.; the Bakken Family Foundation (Hawaii); the Heart Center, Duke University Medical Center; and the Duke Clinical Research Institute.

DURHAM, N.C. - DukeMed News

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Mixing Religious Teachings

Americans say religion plays an important role in their lives, and for many of them, finding a spiritual experience in whatever way they can is more important than adhering to the specific teachings and traditions of a faith.

Forty-five percent of Americans say the most important part of religion is following the teachings and traditions of their faith as closely as they can. But 38 percent say the search for spirituality – no matter where that takes them – is more important than sticking to those traditions.

MOST IMPORTANT PART OF RELIGION FOR YOU?

Following traditions and teachings closely
45%
Finding a spiritual experience
38%
Religion not important
10%

While most Americans – 52 percent - stay within the practices of one single religion as they observe a faith, 36 percent say they have combined the teachings or philosophies from more than one religion into their own observances.

EVER BRING TEACHINGS OR PHILOSOPHIES FROM MORE THAN ONE RELIGION INTO YOUR OWN PRACTICES?

Yes
36%
No
52%
Religion not important
10%

People who say religion is at least somewhat important to them, but who do not attend religious services more than once or twice a month, are the most likely to say they combine practices; almost half of them do. People who attend services at least weekly are the least likely to combine practices; only about one in four do. Catholics are slightly more likely than Protestants to say they do, though majorities of both do not.

Some Americans are introduced to different religious ideas and practices through people they know. Twenty-three percent of all Americans bring into their own religious observances different philosophies or practices that they first learned about from friends or family of other religions.

Just over one-third of Americans are familiar with the teachings of eastern philosophies and religions such as Taoism or Buddhism. Seven percent are very familiar with these and 28 percent are somewhat familiar. 64% are unfamiliar with them.

(AP / CBS)