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The use of spiritual healing methods by parents to heal their children presents a hard free exercise case, and this chapter examines several of these key cases from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Criminalization of Christian Science parents whose children have died in spite of their healing efforts is not appropriate if the parents do not have the paradigmatic mens rea, characteristic of manslaughter/child abuse cases (especially under the common law standards). Typically, the parents had intended the best for the child by using healing methods that they had proven work in their own lives and in the experience of their church (founded over 125 years ago). On the other hand, limited civil interventions by the state on behalf of children may very well be justified. The parents’ religious values (including their conception of beneficence) and the value of personal autonomy directly clash with the state's conception of beneficence. Where there are directly conflicting goods at stake, casuistry has no clear answers. Yet, with its emphasis on context, use of analogy, and critique of unexamined assumptions, casuistry offers the fairest method of dealing with this most difficult genre of cases.

This chapter begins with an analysis of virtues of peace of mind as extolled by Tehilla Lichtenstein, Alfred Geiger Moses, Morris Lichtenstein, and Clifton Harby Levy. It then examines the reasons behind the lack of membership in the Society of Jewish Science. Finally, the emergence of Jewish community-based healing centers is discussed.

This chapter discusses the impact of demographic change (Southern population growth and Northern population decline) on the form of Christianity that is likely to be practiced in the future and points out that claims that the Southern churches have strayed from older definitions of Christianity are greatly exaggerated. However much Southern Christian types have diverged from older Christian orthodoxies, they have in almost all cases remained within recognizable Christian traditions. The first part of the chapter looks at various aspects of inculturation (interpreting the Christian proclamation in a form appropriate for particular cultures) in relation to determining what are the core beliefs and what are the cultural accidents of Christianity; these aspects include architecture, liturgy and religious language, changes in patterns of worship and their underlying beliefs, and the implications of the emphasis on popular belief and tradition for the veneration of the Virgin Mary in Southern Catholic communities. The second part of the chapter discusses patterns in the emerging Southern churches that go beyond familiar Christian traditions, even as far as a thinly disguised paganism, which is manifested in belief in spirits and spiritual powers (which have their strongest impact on terms of healing and miracles and exorcism) and the concept of spiritual welfare (confronting and defeating demonic forces). The third part of the chapter discusses the cultural conflict over literal interpretations of exorcism and spiritual healing in the Bible, the acceptance by the Southern churches of the Old and New Testaments as documents of immediate relevance, their emphasis on aspects of Christianity that have become unfamiliar, and their revival of ancient customs. Last, the Southern churches – the ‘new’ Christianity – are discussed in terms of their sectarian character, and how this is likely to change in the future as they grow and mature, and become more like the major churches.

This chapter discusses the results of a 1995 study on the meaning of spiritual healing in mainstream religious congregations. The United Church of Christ (UCC) was selected for this study because of its broad socioeconomic, ethnic, and geographic diversity. The UCC has been supportive of women clergy, has been open and affirming of participation of gays at all levels, and is a leading advocate of civil rights and social change. Currently, two optional healing services are available in the UCC: one for individuals, another for groups. Many UCC churches include lay intercessory prayer groups. Despite the rather sharp differences in plot or structure of the stories, several core themes echo across all the categories: surrender, acceptance, surprise, transformation, the experience of peace, the experience of God's healing presence and love, the use of prayer in the healing process, and an absence of emphasis on the role of suffering. These themes were often interwoven, creating a powerful portrait of the experience of spiritual healing.

This chapter focuses on the spiritual healing of liberal Protestants. It describes the so-called Saint Matthias scandal and the healing works of Anglican priest Canon G. Moore Smith and Reverend Alex Holmes. It explains that spiritual interventionists focused largely on the recesses of sin and distress that inhered in the individual body and memory that could be healed not by better social programs but, rather, by personal repentance and the forgiveness of God. It also discusses charismatic renewal in liberal Protestantism, midcentury commissions on healing, and the rise of pastoral counselling.

One area of American medicine in which spirituality is widely considered a vital aspect of healing is in substance abuse rehabilitation. While mainstream spiritual healing practices are found in the methods used by members of Alcoholics Anonymous, a variety of other spiritual practices are also used in substance abuse rehabilitation. This chapter assesses the role of community drumming and shamanic programs in healing addiction. The putative effectiveness of these practices in treating substance abuse is proposed to derive from the psychobiological dynamics of the altered states of consciousness (ASC) and other psychophysiological changes they produce. The psychobiological and psychophysiological processes underlying shamanic practices are described to illustrate their potential contributions to the resolution of addiction. Cross-cultural evidence supports the contention that shamanism is a cross-cultural phenomenon with universal features based in human psychobiology.

Christianity has provided innovative forms of health care as well as spiritual healing that has figured prominently in Christianity's popularity and expansion. Early Christians nursed the sick to emulate the healing ministry of Jesus. Missionary outreach to the sick contributed to the reputation and stability of the new religion and the epidemics that ravaged ancient cities gave Christians opportunities to demonstrate their healing faith.

This chapter continues to explore empirically the interrelationship between vertical God-human interaction and the inter-human response (i.e. benevolence) with a focus on divine healing. Following a general discussion of spiritual healing and Pentecostalism's place in it, it uses congregational survey data to test the relationship between divine healing and the charismata. It presents a holistic model of healing to frame the survey responses—one in which a two-way collaborative relationship with God (especially as experienced through prophecy) is central for understanding the practice of divine healing, including having the gift of healing others. The statistical findings reported in this chapter reflect the normative expectations of pentecostals that God is intimately and powerfully present in their lives—and that encounters of the divine make a difference in their lives and in the lives of others.

This chapter examines changes in the field of spiritual healing and seeing in Kokjangak. It first provides an overview of the proliferation of spiritual practices in the post-Soviet period before discussing the uncertainty of the position of spiritual practitioners in Kokjangak. It shows that the foundation of spiritual healing and seeing in Kokjangak was unstable, in part because the actions of jinns (ghosts or spirits) and the effects of mediation were themselves unpredictable. It also discusses the discourses and actions of spiritual healers, their clientele, and other actors to demonstrate how the believability of spiritual healers and clairvoyants is socially mediated and experientially constituted.

Routine matters of staying healthy may be governed by scientific advice, but coping with serious illness and facing death were often thoroughly spiritual stories, even for people not otherwise spiritually attuned. These were not “theodicies” as such, but simply the recognition that life is part of a bigger picture. Medical emergencies and chronic illness were present for nearly everyone, although addiction and depression were more common among the unaffiliated participants in this research. Everyone talked about depending on trusted medical interventions, but spiritually-engaged people add prayer and sacred sensibilities, occasionally seeking rituals of spiritual healing, as well. Everyone participates in the physical care of people in their household and extended family; but religiously-active people have a wider circle of care for neighbors and co-workers, as well.

This chapter examines several medico-legal issues insofar as they have a religious dimension or implicate the religious liberty of the persons seeking or refusing treatment. The chapter is organized as follows. Section II summarizes the law concerning medical treatment, contrasting the position of adults, adolescents or teenagers, and infants. Section III considers the underlying assumptions represented in the disputes between the law and certain religionists who spurn conventional medical treatment in favour of exclusive reliance upon prayer or other spiritual cures. The premises which form the central tenets of conventional or orthodox medicine — reliance upon rationality, insistence upon the scientific method, the need for empirical evidence — have recently been challenged, not only by some devout religionists, but by also a raft of ‘alternative’ health practitioners. Section IV discusses two examples of these broader themes. The chapter concludes with some observations on the extent to which a liberal state accommodates the wishes of believers when they seek to determine their own or their children's health.