Research Catalog

Title

Blind faith : the unholy alliance of religion and medicine / Richard P. Sloan.

Author

Sloan, Richard P.

Publication

New York : St. Martin's Press, 2006.

Supplementary Content

• Contributor biographical information
• Publisher description

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

viii, 295 pages : illustrations; 25 cm

Summary

"Edged in controversy, Blind Faith exposes the flawed research practices and questionable claims made by certain scientists and practitioners whose aim appears to be bringing religion into medicine regardless of the evidence. By showing how real science works, Sloan exposes the destructive forces at play when two very different domains - religion and medicine - meet. Discussing the role of the media in propagating the myth of religion's curative power, the uncritical stance of the medical community, and the rise in scientific illiteracy in America, Blind Faith presents readers with a chilling vision of a world where weak science is embraced as established fact, critical ethical issues are ignored, significant practical considerations are abandoned, and religion itself is trivialized. As twenty-first-century America increasingly turns its back on science, the danger of health care being invaded by faith-related propaganda is a genuine threat to the practice of a compassionate yet evidence-based medicine."--BOOK JACKET.

Subjects

• Religion and Medicine
• Medicine > Religious aspects

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [269]-281) and index.

Contents

Pt. 1. Religion and health, yesterday and today -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Religion and medicine in history -- 3. From Sputnik to angels : science, subjectivity, and the rise of irrationalism -- 4. Why now? -- Pt. 2. Reading the evidence -- 5. Are there really so many studies on religion and health? -- 6. How good is the evidence? -- 7. Is there really a health advantage to the religiously active? -- 8. Attendance at services and mortality -- 9. Why long-distance healing doesn't have a prayer -- Pt. 3. Religion and the practice of medicine -- 10. Ethical problems -- 11. Is it practical to bring religion into medicine? -- 12. Is there really a demand for bringing religion into medicine? -- 13. Trivializing the transcendent : be careful what you wish for? -- Pt. 4. Conclusions -- 14. Religion and medicine : hope or hype?

ISBN

• 0312348819
• 9780312348816

LCCN

• 2006046218
• R2-610025

OCLC

• ocm69028649
• SCSB-5290362

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries