Faith Healing
is a concept that religious belief ("faith") can bring about healing either
through prayers or rituals that, according to adherents, evokes a
divine presence and power toward correcting disease and disability
in particular indicated individuals. Belief in divine intervention in illnes
s or healing is related to religious belief in general. In common usage,
"faith healing"refers to notably overt + ritualistic practices of communal
prayer and gestures (such as laying on of hands) that are claimed to either
cause healing or else solicit divine help in causing literal and immediate
healing.[citation needed] Claims that prayer, divine intervention, or the
ministrations of an individual healer can cure illness has been popular
throughout history. Miraculous recoveries have been attributed
to a myriad of techniques commonly lumped together as "faith healing"
It can involve prayer, a visit to a religious shrine, or simply a strong
belief in a supreme being. The term is best known in connection with
Christianity. The Bible, especially in the New Testament, teaches that
there is a legitimate belief in, and practice of, faith healing. Advocates
say that legitimate faith healings do occur today just as they did in the
early Christian church that faith healing has wide-ranging successes.
There have been claims that faith can cure blindness, deafness, cancer,
AIDS, developmental disorders, anemia, arthritis, corns, defective speech
multiple sclerosis, skin rashes, total body paralysis, and various injuries.
Critics say it is "not effective" and have voiced concerns that those who
pursue it may use it instead of (or delay seeking) conventional medical care.
Death, disability, and other negative outcomes have been known to occur when
faith healing was elected instead of medical care for serious injuries or
illnesses. Faith healing is also used in other religions and the occult. The
increased interest in alternative medicine at the end of the twentieth century
has spawned a parallel interest among sociologists in
the relationship of religion to health.
World e-Religious Network + News
Church & Religious
Organisation