Faith and health : religion, science, and public policy / Paul D. Simmons.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Simmons, Paul D.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Suffering--Religious aspects--Baptists.

Suffering.

Health--Religious aspects--Baptists.

Health.

Medical care--Religious aspects--Baptists.

Medical care.

Medical ethics--Decision making.

Medical ethics.

Christian ethics--Baptist authors.

Christian ethics.

Religion and science.

Physical Description:

293 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Macon, Ga. : Mercer University Press, [2008]

Summary:

The sad and tragic case of Terri Schiavo forms a backdrop for the concerns of the Faith and Health. Religion, politics, law, and science converged in the public debate concerning whether Terri might be disconnected from life support systems. Years after she experienced severe brain damage, her husband carried out her wishes that she not be sustained medically should she have no reasonable chance for recovery. The debate involved every branch of government and seized the public's attention. The heart of her story, however, was a matter of personal faith and how it relates to health decisions at the end of life.

Faith and health are the two points of reference that define this book, figuring prominently in the divisive and often acrimonious social debates about bioethics, as the Schiavo story shows. How should religious beliefs be related to public policy? Should religious groups try to force their moral opinions on all Americans? The issues are too important to ignore. They affect personal choices as well as social relations.

Faith needs the informing and analytical perspectives of science. Faith that is severed from basic information is like a heart without a head. This book brings science and faith together in the task of discerning the will of God and responding to the challenge of human pain and suffering.

Commitments to religious liberty are also necessary to civil discourse and legal resolutions of complex issues. The First Amendment is a vital factor in discussions of issues in medical ethics. Relating religion, ethics, and science in matters like evolution, embryo stem cell research, elective death, and abortion call for careful attention to both establishment and free exercise questions.

Contents:

Human suffering and the medical mandate

False hope : faith and healing in the ICU

Health care and the future : faith perspectives and healthcare reform

Aging as an assault on human dignity : spirituality and end-of-life decision-making

Religion, politics, and a right to die

Faith and the future of physician-assisted suicide

Ethics and the artificial heart : cyborgs and the human future

Ethics and CTA : might we have your face?

Religion, ethics, and the great embryo stem cell debate

Faith, ethics, and abortion : thinking about the unthinkable

Medicine and the demonic : should psychiatrists engage in exorcisms?

Appendices.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [277]-288) and index.

ISBN:

9780881460858

0881460850

OCLC:

185056561