CathNews New Zealand

There are many moments – the loss of a job, finding out you have cancer, a child’s walk home from school in a dangerous neighbourhood – when faith in a loving God watching over you can provide comfort and hope, several studies have found.

But are there times when too much control can be ceded to God?

When it comes to health, the answer in many cases may be yes.

Placing too much control in divine hands may lessen efforts to seek treatment or take preventive measures such as quitting smoking or following a healthy diet, according to a new study.

Men and women who said they believed in divine healing were more likely to let God decide how to solve their health problems, a study led by University of Michigan researcher R. David Hayward found.

And people who were more likely to place responsibility for their health care in divine hands reported worse health outcomes.

Divine deferral still can be a beneficial approach in the cases of dying individuals when medical intervention can no longer help, researchers noted. Placing faith in a benevolent God to be at their side in their last days can help ease their anxiety and suffering.

Until they reach that stage, however, the study suggests that religious people may find it more beneficial to work together with God by doing their best to find the correct treatment for illnesses and living a healthy life.

It is finding the right balance between divine control and personal control that can be the tricky part.

More than four in five Americans say God often performs miracles. Nearly half of Americans say they have experienced a supernatural miracle.

And for many religious people, particularly blacks and evangelicals, there is a greater likelihood of ceding personal control of health issues to God.

In a University of Chicago study of urban cancer patients, 61 percent of black participants said God was in control of their cancer; just 29 percent of whites agreed with the statement. Continue reading

Sources

• Stuff / The Washington Post article by David Briggs
• Image: About Religion

Additional reading

News category: Features.