capacities that can be employed to care for patients. Science gives knowledge of the remarkable neurological and psychological features of the social brain that make activities like caring for the sick possible. But science can also depersonalize the patient viewed through the eyes of the physician scientist. Religions (and other moral communities) motivates an attention to the person who is the patient, providing a fuller vision for the worthiness of caring for the sick, and drawing the physician and patient closer together. Religion and moral communities can also provide a framework to guide the application of medical science in that endeavor, and practices that strengthen the human capacity for treating patients as the mindful persons they are. It is the balance of the tensions produced by the forces of science and religion that may hold a key to better medical practice and patient care.
References
1 Curlin FA, Lantos JD, Roach CJ, Sellergren SA, Chin MH. Religious characteristics of U.S physicians: A national survey. J Gen Intern Med. Jul 2005;20(7):629-634.
2 See Curlin FA, Chin MH, Sellergren SA, Roach CJ, Lantos JD. The association of physicians’ religious characteristics with their attitudes and self-reported behaviors regarding religion and spirituality in the clinical encounter. Med Care. 2006;44:446-53, and Curlin FA, Sellergren SA, Lantos JD, Chin MH. Physicians’ observations and interpretations of the influence of religion and spirituality on health. Archives of Internal Medicine. 2007; 167(7):649-54.
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3 Curlin FA, Odell S, Lawrence RE, Chin MH, Lantos JD, Meador KG, Koenig HG. The relationship between psychiatry and religion among US physicians. Psychiatr Serv 2007;58(9):1193-1198.
4 Holy Bible. Matthew 25:40.
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