As a young pediatrician at a large academic center, “Dr. Carlton” says that she rarely takes into account the religious or spiritual beliefs of her patients, other than when she avoids using blood products with the small number of her patients who are Jehovah’s Witnesses.
“We’re taught to think about interviewing people,” she told me as part of a study I conducted, “by asking questions that influence our patients’ medical management.” Asking patients questions about religion or spirituality, however, does not seem helpful unless answers to those questions lead to a direct medical application.
She went on to say, “I think there’s a little bit of discomfort for people [physicians], just bringing up the whole religious issue.”
Researchers and health care providers are increasingly aware that a patient’s spiritual and religious beliefs and practices may play a role in coping with disease, medical decision making, and other health-related processes. But this and other similar conversations with physicians have convinced me of the need for more intentional scholarship and public conversation about issues related to religion and medicine.
This week, on Friday, we will begin to do just that with a panel discussion “Faith in the Corridors of Medicine,” the inaugural event of the Religion and Public Life Program, which is housed in Rice’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research. The program is open to the public, and I hope you will join us. RSVP information is below.
At this all-campus event, Wendy Cadge, a sociologist of religion and medicine at Brandeis University, will talk about her book manuscript, “Paging God: Religion in the Halls of Medicine,” which explores the formal and informal presence of religion and spirituality in hospitals, focusing in particular on the presence of religion in neonatal intensive care units. The second featured scholar will be Farr Curlin, a professor of medicine and medical ethics at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Curlin recently conducted the first comprehensive national study of the religious beliefs of physicians as well as the ways they use religion and spirituality in medicine. As a physician himself, he has a unique insider view into the profession that he applies to his research on doctors.
In addition, The Religion and Public Life Program will host two “Public Discussions about Religion” throughout the spring of 2011, where high-profile religious leaders in Houston will address issues related to religion and medicine alongside scholars of religion and scholars of medicine in panel discussions.
Rice University is particularly well suited to host conversations around the topic of religion and medicine. The university sits in the heart of the Texas Medical Center, a community that attracts professionals and patients from all over the world and is a global leader in innovative medical research and care. Houston is also one of the areas of the country with a high level of religious attendance. Recent findings from the Houston Area Survey show that 64 percent of Houston-area residents have attended religious services over the last 30 days.
It is our hope that these forums will allow conversations on religion and medicine to continue to open up beyond academics, by including religious and medical leaders in conversations about how the study of religion might be relevant to medical and religious communities.
RSVP now to attend “Faith in the Corridors of Medicine” on Friday, Dec. 3, at Rice University. The event starts at 6:30 p.m.
Elaine Howard Ecklund is an assistant professor of sociology at Rice University and director of the Religion and Public Life Program. She is also a Baker Institute Rice Scholar. Ecklund is the author of the new book from Oxford University Press, “Science vs. Religion: What Scientists Really Think.”