Don't "forget the importance of prayer-based care"

[sandnsea]

I get press releases from the Religion Press Release Service and every now and then there's a real doozy. What is prayer-based care, exactly. How did these people get into the National Press Club?

Allison Doty
National Media Coordinator
The First Church of Christ, Scientist
617-283-1644
[e-mail]


The First Church of Christ, Scientist
in Boston, Massachusetts

MEDIA ADVISORY


While the nation's policymakers grapple with ways to make health care more affordable to all, we shouldn't forget the importance of prayer-based care to millions of Americans.
That is the message Phil Davis, chief spokesman and legislative affairs representative for The First Church of Christ, Scientist, will convey to reporters gathered at the National Press Club Newsmakers' Forum in two weeks.

Mr. Davis will join a panel of health care reformers hosted by the National Press Club to discuss the future of America's health care system.

Other members of the panel include:
Grace-Marie Turner, CEO Galen Institute - founder of a public policy research organization promoting informed debate over free-market ideas of health reform

Melinna Giannini, Founder & CEO, ABC Coding Solutions - founder of a coding system and billing platform that helps connect health care professionals with the electronic insurance infrastructure,

Christine Filipovich, Executive Director, National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists

Event details:
What: National Press Club "Newsmaker" Panel Discussion on Revolutionizing Health Care
Where: Zenger Room, National Press Club, Washington, DC
Date: Friday, September 5th
Time: 10am

[Tangerine LaBamba]

1. Don't be fooled

While the title "National Press Club" might sound like it has some gravitas, that, alas, is not true. Once, long ago, it was, when journalists were real and responsible and credentialed. But, it's now just another forum for anyone who will pay for the clean-up.

[billyoc]

2. Don't "forget the importance of prayer-based bill collection" either, motherfuckers.

[Mojambo]

6. Right on! n/t

[rucky]

3. I don't think my insurance will cover that.

[kestrel91316]

4. Sounds like the GOP's idea of universal health care:

everybody just PRAY for healing.

You have to admit, it would save beaucoup bucks in the federal budget........then we could afford to start armed nuclear conflict with Russia!

[Solly Mack]

5. Prayer-based health care insurance program coming soon

You pay a tenth of your monthly income every month in the event you might need healing prayers. A billing record for all prayers will be sent to you and as long as actual prayers made by any party, to include those outside your prayer coverage circle, don't exceed the alloted yearly prayer allowances (based on the amount you pay in premiums), you owe nothing. Otherwise you pay the difference.

Start getting coverage now!

Money orders only, please.

Send to:

Solly Mack
Prayer Care Giver Specialist

[liberalhistorian]

7. What is wrong with

this, as long as it's in addition to health care and as long as people request it and it's not shoved at/forced on them?

[DFW]

8. What's wrong with it is that it's prayer-BASED care

Care need to be medical. You can AUGMENT it with prayer, rain dances, or
joss sticks, or even entreaties to the Great Pumpkin, but health care needs
to be BASED on medicine. The instances where prayer has healed by itself are
far too few to base a whole system of health care on it.

[liberalhistorian]

12. OK, I certainly agree with that, and care must first and foremost

be medical. But those who want faith-based care in addition to regular medical care have the right to do so as long as they want it and it's not forced on them. To dismiss and discount the religious beliefs and rights of millions of people just 'cause you don't share it is dismissively elitist and should have no place in a democracy. We're always going on about how people have the right to decide to die or have an abortion or receive no treatment or whatever they want in regards to their own bodies, that they have the right to such choices. That also goes for prayer and incorporating their faith in their treatment as well.

I prayed before my surgery a few weeks ago. I had the right to do that and I would hope people here wouldn't disdain me and the millions of others who have a faith just 'cause you may not agree.

[DFW]

16. Like I said, I have nothing in the slightest against prayer in addition to medicine

If you believe in that kind of thing, praying your surgeon has no slips of the hand
is certainly not going to be detrimental to his skill. I am only against making any
kind of faith the fundamental basis for any kind of medical care needed to cure some
patient of what ails them, i.e. as a substitute for getting them to a doctor. I have
heard enough horror stories (and hope they are as rare as the reports of them are) where
parents let their children die because they are sure the Lord (or whoever) will take
care of their child. If "the Lord" wanted them to go without medical care, he wouldn't
have let there be doctors. There is nothing at all wrong with praying the doctor is
successful. There is plenty wrong with saying prayer is a valid substitute for a doctor.

My dentist in Texas has signs all over the place promoting his Cristian faith. I believe
nothing of the sort, but he is one hell of a good dentist, and if he thinks it helps him
be a good doctor, it's fine with me. My dentist in Germany is of no faith at all, and he
is equally as good (and cheaper). He is also a member of Doctors Without Borders, and donates
a month of his time each year to treating penniless patients in a third world country.
You don't have to pray to act like a Christian.

So, no, I have no disdain for those who have faith. Just don't get me started on people who
think their faith is worth more than someone else's life. Faith means you BELIEVE something,
and there is nothing wrong with that. Everyone has the right to believe what they want. It's
the ones who KNOW that their faith is superior to all others that make me nervous, for if
they KNOW they're right, then they KNOW I'm wrong. That's where problems start. Other than
that, pax vobiscum.

[sandnsea]

10. As part of a national health care discussion?

You've got to be kidding.

[liberalhistorian]

11. There's nothing wrong with it if it supplements

medical care and if it's what people want in addition to regular medical care. You cannot just wave your hand and dismiss the millions of people who may have a faith and believe in prayer.

[sandnsea]

13. I'm not paying for it

and I shouldn't have to, any more than I should have to pay for it in schools.

[spoony]

17. So, under a national plan

Would money go to Catholic hospitals? Would hospitals be able to keep their chaplains/chapels?

[sandnsea]

29. Federal money goes to Catholic hospitals now

It just doesn't go to priests for faith healing.

[liberalhistorian]

21. Really? So you wouldn't have a problem, then, with

those who don't want their taxes going for abortions? I have the feeling you'd scream about that. But what's the difference?

[sandnsea]

28. We wouldn't need abortions at all

if prayer worked.

[Adsos Letter]

23. Nailed it!

[ZombieHorde]

14. cannot just wave your hand and dismiss

Why not?

[RainDog]

19. even tho studies show it doesn't work

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4681771.stm

A study found those who were prayed for were as likely to have a setback in hospital, be re-admitted, or die within six months as those not prayed for.

and even tho some poor soul may not get the medical attention he/she needs?

Christian Scientists are the group talking about this. They are also ones who have denied their children care and those children have died because of this. (That's what the First Church of Christ Scientist is... this sect was founded by Mary Baker Eddy in the 19th c.

From wiki-

Prayer, from the Christian Science perspective, does not ask God to intervene, but is rather a process of learning more of God's spiritual reality - "awakening mortal thought," by degrees, to spiritual truth. Christian Scientists show the effect of this spiritualization of thought in healing, -- physical, emotional, and otherwise. <b> Health care is not attempted through drugs, surgery, or other physical manipulation, but through "Christian Science treatment," a specific form of prayer intended to spiritualize thought.<2>.</b>

while this little missive may seem innocuous and worth defending, the fact of the matter is that Christian Scientists are cultists.

this is their explanation of illness

Christian Scientists also believe that sickness is the result of fear, ignorance, or sin, and that when the erroneous belief is corrected, the sickness will disappear. They state that the way to eliminate the false beliefs is to replace them with true understanding of God's goodness. They consider that suffering can occur only when one believes (consciously or unconsciously) in the supposed reality of a problem; if one changes one's understanding, the belief is revealed as false, and the acknowledgement that the sickness has no power since God is the only power, eliminates the sickness.

So, next time someone you know gets a dx of cancer, just tell them it's the result of fear or ignorance or sin and they should pray it away because we don't want to offend anyone who might endanger the lives of others by their beliefs.

[Pastiche423]

26. What is wrong w/it

is that they want money from taxpayers to contribute to their looney idea.

Guess what? Not all Americans are xtrians. A BIGGER guess what - we have SEPARATION of CHURCH and STATE right their in our Constitution.

If anyone wants to pray, let them pray until their hearts' content. But don't make it mandatory for anyone else to pay for it.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

9. Faith based health care. Pray that you get better. nt

[ColbertWatcher]

15. Hahahahahahahahahahahaha! n/t

[SalmonChantedEvening]

18. you haven't got a prayer care

Ahhh why worry, you can't afford the good care anyhoo.

Spahn and Sain then pray for rain: The Healthcare Version.

[SmileyRose]

20. Christian Scientists - most don't believe the physical even exists.

The Church of Christ, Scientist was founded in 1879, in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. by Mary Baker Eddy, author of the book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, which offered a unique interpretation of Christian faith. Christian Science teaches that the reality of God denies the reality of sin, sickness, death and the material world. Accounts of miraculous healing are common within the church, and adherents often refuse traditional medical treatments. The church, headquartered in Boston, with branches around the world, currently has a membership estimated at 100,000 to 400,000

see wiki

[trof]

22. There was news of a study done a few months ago.

Patients prayed for did no better than those not prayed for.
Big surprise.

[jmowreader]

24. There is a legitimate medical term for cures caused by prayer

"Spontaneous Remission."

A certain number of people who get sick will just get better with no medical intervention whatsoever--their immune systems will gear up to combat the disease, and they'll get well all by themselves. Naturally, the Faith Healers will jump around screaming "It was the PRAYER that saved him! Praise God!" Sure. If you say so.

I'd rather be cured by a shaman than one of these fucking snake-handling charlatans.

[Naturyl]

25. Let's give THEM "prayer-based care" when they get sick...

And see how they like it. In order to not forget the *importance* of prayer-based care, I suggest it be the only kind they get. Should be fine, right?

[NNN0LHI]

27. When I see someone use woo woo to pray back a missing leg I will become a believer