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Strange Bedfellows: Religion and Medicine
April 6th,  2010

Is the presence of faith and scalpels inversely proportional?
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by Jacob Hodgen

Picture this: a mother takes her young son to the doctor, and she is told the boy requires major surgery on his leg. The surgery will be long and intense. The boy then turns to her and says he doesn't want anesthetic. Instead, he suggests that his father hold him down so he can endure the pain. The boy tells his mother to wait outside so she can't hear him scream. No painkillers, no hypnosis, just him and a leather belt clenched between his teeth.

What would the mother say? What would the doctor say? And more importantly, what would happen should a doctor actually allow this to happen?

Attributed to the first president of the LDS Church, Joseph Smith, this story is one that is routinely taught to children in Utah as an example of religious faith. Yet I don't know of anyone who would ever consider telling their kids to follow this example. And I don't blame them--that's crazy.

Then why is this story still so popular in Utah?

Joseph Smith's unusual account of medical trauma is a good example of one of the many paradoxes found in the contemporary worlds of medicine and religion.

The Good

Utahns are quite proud of their high life expectancy, and the Word of Wisdom is frequently heralded as a practical guide to healthy living by believers and gentiles alike. And it's no wonder why:

In a major study by UCLA epidemiologist James E. Enstrom, he concluded that, "LDS Church members who follow religious mandates barring smoking and drinking have one of the lowest death rates from cancer and cardiovascular diseases -- about half that of the general population. Moreover, the healthiest LDS Church members enjoy a life expectancy eight to eleven years longer than that of the general white population in the United States."

Interestingly, recent scientific studies into the practice of prayer in medicine have produced contradictory results. One study performed at the San Francisco General Medical Center showed that prayer made an small, yet appreciable difference for patients in its coronary care unit population. While another study in the American Heart journal showed its patients were actually worse off when prayed for.

surgery
Is the presence of faith and scalpels inversely proportional?
Care to prove it?

In recent years, the efficacy of prayer has been a primary target by religious skeptics. The outspoken atheist Sam Harris offered the following challenge in a debate for Newsweek with Pastor Rick Warren:

"Get a billion Christians to pray for a single amputee. Get them to pray that God regrow that missing limb. This happens to salamanders every day, presumably without prayer; this is within the capacity of God. I find it interesting that people of faith only tend to pray for conditions that are self-limiting."

Whether or not you care to tangle with Harris, I think most believers will attest that prayer and religion aren't about statistics or logical proofs; they are about faith and feelings. And most Americans will have no trouble sharing experiences about prayers they feel were answered. Besides, who doesn't want to know that other people are thinking about you and rooting for you to get better when you feel sick?

The Bad

But faith is not a get out of jail out jail free card, and mixing religion and medicine doesn't always have a happy ending.

In 1995, Lisa McPherson died from a pulmonary embolism after the Church of Scientology allegedly attempted to treat her with fasting and other religious methods. Her death, which was otherwise preventable, resulted in the filing of criminal charges against the church.

ski bums

More recently, a thirteen year old boy named Daniel Hauser was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, a treatable form of cancer. After his mother, who practiced a form of Native American medicine, refused to let the boy receive treatment, she was ordered in a dramatic court decision that her son must receive chemotherapy. He did, and he beat the cancer.

Though Utah is typically more diverse in its people and religious beliefs than most outsiders realize, it certainly has its own serious problems that you won't find printed on any travel brochures.

According to the award-winning documentary Happy Valley, Utah has the highest prescription drug abuse rate in the country, and doctors prescribe twice as many anti-depressants here than the national average. The film posits that this is the case due to fact that pills are often not perceived as violations of the Word of Wisdom. Utah also has more suicides than the national average in every single age category.

In 2007, Forbes Magazine awarded Salt Lake City the dubious honor of "the most vain city in America" based on the number of plastic surgeons per capita and our spending habits on cosmetics.

This means it's not all bad: we may be chronically depressed and hooked on pain pills, but at least we look good doing it!

And the Revised

Though religion and medicine don't always play nicely with one another, most people seem to have made some sort of peace with them. This is likely due to the fact that most religions have updated their dogma to correspond with advances in Western medicine.

ski bums
Matthew Chapter 8: What terminology would you use
to describe what is happening here?

I mean, come on: Jesus diagnosed what we would now call epilepsy as demonism. Not many people are still willing to do the same.

Utah is no exception to this policy of doctrinal adaptation. For example, did you know that the plant used to produce the recently banned compound Ephedra used to go by the name "Mormon Tea," due to its popularity with early pioneers?

Even abstinence education is falling to the wayside in favor of sex education. But then again, as the New Testament so vividly points out, it wasn't really 100% effective, now was it?

One of the best examples of this process of change is the position of the LDS Church on birth control. According to the Robert Romney, Medical Director of the BYU Health Center, more than 80% of all women who come to the church-owned health clinic for pre-marital exams request and receive some form of contraception.

This is no longer a particularly controversial issue, as it seems to be socially acceptable for most people. However, it is a radical departure from previous doctrine.

The LDS prophet David O. McKay strongly denounced the practice in a 1943 General Conference, in which he proclaimed in no uncertain terms, "When the husband and wife are healthy, and free from inherited weaknesses and disease that might be transplanted with injury to their offspring, the use of contraceptives is to be condemned."

steak
They say wickednesss never was happiness,
but this T-bone steak disagrees

Even the Word of Wisdom itself has gone through phases of acceptability. It was at least somewhat optional until 1921, when LDS president Heber J. Grant finally made strict compliance a requirement for temple attendance. Contemporary records in the BYU archives show that until then, most members--including Joseph Smith--were not strict adherents.

Still today, only part of this famous health guide is enforced. A casual observer might think that Doctrine and Covenants 89: 12-13 is pretty darn clear, but they would be wrong, as the menus of any of the numerous steak joints in Utah quickly reveals.

But is that it? What are the costs of reconciling one's religious beliefs with advances in modern science and medicine? And are one's beliefs diminished by doing so? I guess what I really want to know is this:

If you want to claim you really have faith--even if it's the 21st century--should you be refusing anesthetic too?

As usual, I am left with more questions than answers. Considering the fact that lives are literally on the line, though, I wish more people were at the very least willing to talk about it.


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