490 Week 6

The blog topic this week is can we cure disease through the power of prayer? During our class this week, we discussed the connection between spirituality, religion and health. The first thing we discussed was the difference between spirituality and religion. The main difference between the two is that religion is more focused on starting a community, formalities and traditions. Spirituality however, focuses on individual growth, less formalities, emotions and growth from personal experiences. We also discussed how an individual can be religious without being spiritual, or spiritual without being religious. You can be religious without being spiritual by attending church functions out of guilt or being forced to. It is possible to be spiritual without being religious if you believe that you do not need to attend organized functions to have a relationship with God.

I do believe there is a direct connection between prayer and your health. There has been many studies done on the connection between religion and health. Some of these studies have found that attending church slows the rate of cognitive decline, there is a positive relationship between religion and depression, suicide rates are lower among the religious and adults who attend weekly services and read scripture are less likely to have high blood pressure.

However, personally I feel that religion and spirituality impact your health the most by giving you more confidence. If an individual is fighting a disease or sickness and they believe a higher power is on their side, they feel more confident in their ability to get better. I have always felt that a positive attitude will affect the outcome in a positive way. The belief in God, religion and spirituality is an excellent way to cope with a disease and find the inner strength to overcome it.