LIFE

Does prayer have the power to heal?

Darla Carter
@PrimeDarla

Ruth Link, 92, lies in a hospital bed at Baptist Health Louisville, clutching the hand of longtime chaplain Jim Ivey as he kneels beside her in prayer.

Calling on the name of the Lord Jesus, Ivey prays that Link, who's been plagued by swelling from a kidney problem, will be able to go home as quickly as possible.

"I love praying for people because I believe that prayer works," said Ivey, who's been ministering to Link for more than a week. "I believe it makes a difference ... so any time I can spend praying or talking or just comforting, that's a wonderful thing."

More than 60 years after the establishment of an annual National Day of Prayer in the United States, prayer remains an important source of solace and strength for some people who are going through crises, such as sickness.

There are "some people who do not want prayer and let you know that, but if they have some sort of a religious affiliation, prayer is almost an obligatory part of the rituals that surround illness and dying," said medical ethicist Paul Simmons, a clinical professor at the University of Louisville.

Whether prayers for health or healing actually work is a matter of debate. Study results have been mixed.

But "prayer does seem to make a difference for many, many people," said Dr. Harold G. Koenig, director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at the Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina. "When you ask people in difficult life circumstances, they will say that they're praying. … Whether it's prayer or whether it's some other religious activity, it does seem as though it helps them."

In some studies, religious activity has been "associated with better health across the board, from better coping to better psychological health to better social functioning, better health behaviors and better physical health," said Koenig, a psychiatrist.

Religious activity could include things like praying, reading the Bible, attending religious services, being part of a Bible study or prayer group, or volunteering for religious reasons, he said.

Ivey, a 15-year chaplain at Baptist Health who also does home visits, said he often gets prayer requests from patients and their family members.

"Some patients believe that prayer is essential to their healing; some patients just like having that extra support," he said.

"According to the Bible, your faith helps to heal you," he said. "The patient's faith is a big part of it."

However, in the 2006 book "Blind Faith," author Richard P. Sloan rejects the notion that religion can cure anyone. He also highlights several problems that can occur when people try to marry religion and medicine. The critic notes that ethical problems can arise when physicians try to bring religion into clinical care and that religious inquiries by physicians can take away time from discussing things like smoking and diet that are known to impact the risk for some diseases.

In the book, Sloan, an expert in behavioral medicine, also criticizes the quality of some studies linking religious devotion to better health and says that "to study religion using the methods of science trivializes the transcendent aspects of religion."

Personal experience vs. research

The Rev. Ron Robinson, interim pastor of Shawnee Presbyterian Church in western Louisville, doesn't rely on studies as proof of the power of prayer. He has his own personal story.

Robinson, 66, said he believes that God healed him in 2008 when routine testing revealed that he had an elevated level of prostate specific antigen (PSA), a possible indication of prostate cancer.

"I went to St. Martin's, the Eucharist Room. I went day after day, sometimes two times a day, and I prayed," he said. "Then I stopped praying and started listening. That's a part of prayer. … Prayer became contemplation. Contemplation became strength."

Robinson said he heard God's voice as he was being prepared for surgery and credits God with the positive outcome: Tissue samples revealed no prostate cancer.

"I believe that any person can call out, irrespective of what place they are in life," Robinson said.

Attempts to study prayer have not always come out positively, though. A study published in the American Heart Journal in 2006 found that being prayed for by others had no effect on complication-free recovery from heart surgery. And patients who knew they were being prayed for had a higher incidence of complications.

But a study that Koenig co-authored found that able-bodied older adults who participated in private religious activity — such as prayer, meditation or Bible study — survived longer than those who did not participate in such activity. That study was published in 2000 in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences.

Also, a study published in JAMA Psychiatry last year found suggestive evidence, using brain MRIs, that religion or spirituality may offer some protection against major depression. The "neuroanatomical resilience" was seen in patients who placed a high importance on religion or spirituality.

Observing miracles

Ivey, who pastors First Baptist Church in New Albany, Ind., said he has observed the impact of prayer while working with hospital patients and families.

"Every now and then, there's a miracle that you get to see," he said. Sometimes, it's that "you're healed here on Earth, and sometimes, the miracle is that God takes you home to be with him."

Link, the Baptist Health patient, said she "absolutely" believes in the power of prayer. When asked if it can result in healing, Link, who is Catholic, said, "Absolutely. It's the only thing. That's what I say first thing every morning: 'God, if you weren't there, there'd be no point.' I really believe that, with all my heart."

The Rev. Dr. Georgine Buckwalter, a retired Episcopal priest in Louisville who spent 25 years in long-term-care chaplaincy, said she learned a lot about the benefits of prayer while working with older adults.

"I think we misspeak when we only speak of health as a bodily thing," she said. Body, mind and spirit are intricately woven together, and "when one of those entities is out of whack, it affects the others."

Buckwalter said prayer can be helpful in lowering anxiety and helping people to cope with their illnesses.

Even if one has a condition that doesn't lend itself to miraculous healing, "there can be total wellness and wholeness of spirit in a kind of joyful Christian surrender to circumstances, so that you can say, 'It is well with my soul,' " she said.

On a personal level, Buckwalter said she doesn't expect God to fix her problems all the time or to explain them away; "I just want God's presence with me ... and God has never let me down."

Reporter Darla Carter can be reached at (502) 582-7068, dcarter@courier-journal.com or on Twitter @PrimeDarla.