Disease

A disease is a condition where the body does not function correctly.

Diseases are caused by the body being overwhelmed by toxic substances beyond its ability to eliminate them in a normal way. Toxic materials may accumulate from unexpelled body wastes that are generated as a part of metabolism or from external materials that are ingested and retained due to the body's inability to eliminate them. Disease also refers to bacterial and viral infections of the body.

The etymology of the word comes from the English dis-ease.

In the scientific arena, the term disease can be applied to any pathological condition presenting a set of signs and symptoms. In the scientific sense, a disease is not necessarily harmful.

## Contents

* 1 Religion/Irreligion and recovery from diseases
* 2 Bible believing Christians, prayer and miraculous healing
* 3 See also
* 4 References

## Religion/Irreligion and recovery from diseases[edit]

See also: Irreligion and recovery from illnesses

The prestigious Mayo Clinic found that that religious involvement and spirituality are associated with better physical health, mental health, health-related quality of life and other health outcomes.[1]

The prestigious Mayo Clinic reported on December 11, 2001:

“  |  In an article also published in this issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Mayo Clinic researchers reviewed published studies, meta-analyses, systematic reviews and subject reviews that examined the association between religious involvement and spirituality and physical health, mental health, health-related quality of life and other health outcomes.

The authors report a majority of the nearly 350 studies of physical health and 850 studies of mental health that have used religious and spiritual variables have found that religious involvement and spirituality are associated with better health outcomes.[1]

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A medical journal article published by the American Medical Association entitled Religious Commitment and Health Status indicates:

“  |  The empirical literature from epidemiological and clinical studies regarding the relationship between religious factors (eg, frequency of religious attendance, private religious involvement, and relying on one’s religious beliefs as a source of strength and coping) and physical and mental health status in the areas of prevention, coping, and recovery was reviewed. Empirical studies from the published literature that contained at least measure of subjects’ religious commitment and at least measure of their physical or mental health status were used. In particular, studies that examined the role of religious commitment or religious involvement in the prevention of illness, coping with illnesses that have already arisen, and recovery from illness were highlighted. A large proportion of published empirical data suggest that religious commitment may play a beneficial role in preventing mental and physical illness, improving how people cope with mental and physical illness, and facilitating recovery from illness.[2] |  ”

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Duke University researchers found that religious people have stronger immune systems than the irreligious. They also established that churchgoers have lower blood pressure.[3]

Sean Thomas wrote:

“  |  In the same year researchers at Duke University in America discovered that religious people have stronger immune systems than the irreligious. They also established that churchgoers have lower blood pressure.

Meanwhile in 2009 a team of Harvard psychologists discovered that believers who checked into hospital with broken hips reported less depression, had shorter hospital stays, and could hobble further when they left hospital – as compared to their similarly crippled but heathen fellow-sufferers.

The list goes on. In the last few years scientists have revealed that believers, compared to non-believers, have better outcomes from breast cancer, coronary disease, mental illness, Aids, and rheumatoid arthritis.[4]

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## Bible believing Christians, prayer and miraculous healing[edit]

See also: Atheism and miracles and Atheism and the supernatural

The Christian apologist Gary Habermas wrote: "Double-blind prayer experiments: where people pray for others with terminal illness. Habermas admitted that most such experiments have not worked, but the three that he knows of that have indeed worked were cases of orthodox-Christians praying for the sick."[5]

## See also[edit]

* American Medical Association
* Doctor
* Mind/body

## References[edit]

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Mueller, Dr. Paul S. et al. (December 2001). "Religious involvement, spirituality, and medicine: implications for clinical practice". Mayo Clinic Proceedings vol. 76:12, pp. 1225-1235. Retrieved from Mayo Clinic Proceedings website on July 20, 2014.
2. ↑ Religious Commitment and Health Status by Dale A. Matthews, MD; Michael E. McCullough, PhD; David B. Larson, MD, MSPH; Harold G. Koenig, MD, MHSc; James P. Swyers, MA; Mary Greenwold Milano, Arch Fam Med. 1998;7:118-124
3. ↑ Are atheists mentally ill?
4. ↑ Are atheists mentally ill?
5. ↑ Christian Apologist: 10 Reasons for the Fall of Atheism by Gary Habermas