ABOUT THE BOOK

Marking a reactionary period in society's relationship with religion and an America that increasingly turns its back on science, Richard Sloan's Blind Faith is a provocative examination of the dangerous emerging alliance between religion and medicine-two worlds that have grown disconcertingly close.

A majority of Americans now believe that prayer and other religious activities can help people recover from illness, prevent disease entirely and even act as viable substitutes for well-established medical treatments. In Blind Faith, Sloan, a professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia University, debunks the view that religion is good for your health and demonstrates how attempts to link religion and medicine actually can cause harm. Though Sloan does not dispute the fact that religion can bring a sense of comfort in times of difficulty, he clearly shows that there is no compelling evidence that it provides an actual cure for any ailment. Looking at the consequences for research, he sees money spent on studies of the medical benefits of religious activities drawing support away from research into real cures developed by sound science.

Edged in controversy, Blind Faith exposes the flawed research practices and questionable claims made by certain scientists and practitioners whose aim appears to be bringing religion into medicine regardless of the evidence. By showing how real science works, Sloan exposes the destructive forces at play when two very different domains-religion and medicine-meet. Discussing the role of the media in propagating the myth of religion's curative power, the uncritical stance of the medical community, and rise in scientific illiteracy in America, Blind Faith presents readers with a chilling vision of a world where weak science is embraced as established fact, critical ethical issues are ignored, significant practical considerations are abandoned, and religion itself is trivialized. As twenty-first century America increasingly turns its back on science, the danger of health care being invaded by faith-related propaganda is a genuine threat to the practice of a compassionate yet evidence-based medicine. Blind Faith gives readers the tools to understand when good medical science is subverted and, as important, how true religion is debased by bringing it into the laboratory.