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I know I do.  A new study says most Americans pray for healing . When my husband had minor surgery several weeks ago, I talked to God continuously.  And now that the surgery was a success, I still do because the knee stiffness he had and hard time walking and getting up doesn't seem to be attributable to the hernia, but something else.  His surgeon wants him to see a cardiologist. I've been burning up the wires to the heavens. Some people even believe in the "laying on of hands."  I first became acquainted with this when I lived in the Midwest and many of my friends were evangelical Christians, who believe that, when someone is ill or in pain, the touching of this person by people who feel divinely inspired will make him better. I have to confess, I never really saw it work, and I'm reminded of a heartbreaking piece on TV about this, a man in a wheelchair who was paralyzed believing desperately, fervently, that he would walk again if just the right hands l...

Here's something you might not believe, but did you know that politicians who talk about religion are supposedly trusted more? I find it hard to believe because a lot of the talk in the Presidential race has been about exclusion, punishment and sometimes even hatred.  Whatever happened to treat people the way you want to be treated?  Or, what would Jesus say? We keep hearing -- at least from the Republicans -- that immigrants are bad (never mind they built this country), government is bad (meanwhile, the rich are making out pretty nicely with all the tax cuts), and abortion is bad but capital punishment is good.  And, oh, by the way, I go to church every Sunday. I don't see God in any of that.  According to a new study , including religion in campaign speeches feeds a belief that those who are religious to some extent are trustworthy and viewed more favorably.  "Their religious identification reflects a powerful, widespread, but often subtle and un...

Do you go to church?  Synagogue?  Mosque? Do you know the reason why?  Some go because it's a social event, meeting people you know and like.  Others, because they've lost a job, or a loved one and need comfort.  Even others, like me, because they are desperately hoping for something they don't have and want (a child). When my prayers were finally answered, yes, I became more spiritual.  But it didn't take long to forget about this miracle.  Then I was diagnosed with cancer, twice, and God (or what I call God) came back into my life. But a new study has found that while all these reasons may be what's compelling us, there's something else going on we don't even know about. Researchers say it's because religion satisfies all of the 16 basic desires that humans share.  Say, what? That's right.  Acceptance, curiosity, eating, family, honor, idealism, independence, order, physical activity, power, romance, saving, social contact, statu...

OK.  So you don't go to church.  But you may pay a price for that. A new study has found that people who have negative spiritual beliefs, or, as newswise.com put its, blame karma for their pain feel it, well, more. "In general, the more religious or spiritual you are, the healthier you are, which makes sense,” says Brick Johnstone, a neuropsychologist and professor of health psychology in the MU School of Health Professions. “But for some individuals, even if they have even the smallest degree of negative spirituality – basically, when individuals believe they’re ill because they’ve done something wrong and God is punishing them – their health is worse.” Johnstone and his colleagues studied nearly 200 individuals to find out how their spiritual beliefs affected their health outcomes. Individuals in the study had a range of health conditions, such as cancer, traumatic brain injury or chronic pain, and others were healthy. The researchers divided the individua...

I've always been intrigued (and mystified) by those people claiming they saw Mary on a refrigerator or in a tree, or Jesus in a piece of toast. And yet, researchers are now finding that there are rational reasons for people seeing this. It's called  “face pareidolia,"  and it's " normal and based on physical causes," according to newswise.com. “Most people think you have to be mentally abnormal to see these types of images, so individuals reporting this phenomenon are often ridiculed”, the Web site quotes lead researcher Prof. Kang Lee of the University of Toronto’s Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study. “But our findings suggest that it’s common for people to see non-existent features because human brains are uniquely wired to recognize faces, so that even when there’s only a slight suggestion of facial features the brain automatically interprets it as a face." Hmm.  Not nearly so romantic as thinking you've been visited by God. Here's h...

According to an op-ed in The New York Times' Sunday Review today, people who go regularly to church live longer. It's not just good for your soul.  It's good for your health. Maybe it's because I go to church every week (and teach Sunday school to rowdy eight-year-olds), but it was exciting to hear that you can add as much as three years to your life, T.M. Luhrmann writes in his op-ed, by attending a religious service often. No one's quite sure why, Luhrmann reports, and it's quite possible it's the social network, the community, it inspires, and activates.  I'm pretty much a loner but when I had cancer surgery six years ago, it helped me to know that I was being prayed for, by a lot of people, some I didn't even know, and I'm convinced that's one of the things that helped me heal faster. But it's not just that.  Back when I was newly living with my boyfriend (now my husband), I made a good friend with an adorable toddler nickname...