Opinion
Medicine is not well served when it is blurred with religion
LETTER — Posted Jan. 28, 2008
Regarding "Body and soul: When faith guides a doctor's vocation" (Article, Dec. 24/31, 2007): The article focuses solely on what the author sees as positive aspects of the melding of medical and religious practice but fails to address the deep and worrisome pitfalls of this entanglement.
Each of the clinicians profiled cited their religious beliefs as the source of their ability to communicate compassionately with patients in times of intense distress. But these are also values that derive from secular humanism, which seeks to understand ethical choices objectively without making claims as to their divine origin.
The best medical care is evidence-based, relevant to the individual, cost-effective, of high quality and delivered with honesty and compassion. Yet none of these endeavors is uniquely religious. So we are left to wonder: What is the essential role of the physician-religionist? Indeed, throughout history, religions often deliberately strive to inhibit the progress of the sciences. In our own era, one need look no farther than the stem-cell research debacle to understand how religion thwarts scientific progress.
I believe that our profession is better off by improving our science and strengthening our humanist values and practices than by blurring the lines between medicine and religion.
Alan K. Duncan, MD, Rochester, Minn.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/01/28/edlt0128.htm.
