“Is Religion Good Medicine?” asks the November 2003 cover of Newsweek. The surprising answer—“yes.” Research studies funded by the Foundation and published in leading medical journals have shown that spirituality has measurable health benefits, including increased life expectancy.

Our modern symbol of a coiled snake wrapped around a physician’s staff comes down to us from Asclepius—son of Apollo, god of medicine—and his followers. The ancient Greeks approached medicine holistically, treating sickness and wellness by treating the whole person. Hippocrates, after whom medicine’s Hippocratic oath is named, pioneered a rational method of healing based on finding healthy balances of various humors essential for well-being. But as medicine became more precise and scientific, it also became more reductionistic. Illness was understood as localized phenomena, affecting isolated parts of the body. Gone was the original idea that mental and spiritual well-being were intimately connected to physical health.

Patients with an active religious life have spiritual resources that can help them break cycles of addiction, recover from depression, even spend less time in the hospital. More than one study has documented that religious people actually live longer,” says Harold G. Koenig, director of the Duke University’s Center for the Study of Religion, Spirituality, and Health.

“Not one of my professors in medical school even suggested there was any connection between health and religious faith. They would have scoffed at the idea,” says Koenig. With the help of the Foundation, Koenig and colleagues created the innovative research center at Duke University. “By joining medical researchers with theologians and other scholars we created a critical mass of expertise that allowed us to look at patient care from very different perspectives,” says Koenig. Initial investigation of the health benefits of religious involvement were so encouraging that other research centers quickly emerged.

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