Specials explore Bible, prayer and healing

Dever is not a theologian - or even religious. But he understands the importance of the Scriptures to Western civilization - and the morally edifying nature of them. Biblical minimalists tend to be post-modernists, he says, who believe that there are no facts and all claims to knowledge are mere social constructs. One might suppose, then, that minimalists would see their own perspectives as social constructs, too, but in the film they talk about them as if they were Gospel. Now, there's irony.

Another kind of religious controversy surfaces in A&E Investigative Reports: Healing and Prayer: Power or Placebo? (A&E, Dec. 17, 10-11 p.m.). In the last 12 years, at least 100 scientific studies have been conducted that support the idea that prayer can heal.

"Most critics would look at the most recent studies and say there really is something going on here," says Dr. Larry Dossey in the program. "Some of this science really does look bulletproof." He says the evidence is so powerful that clinics and hospitals are beginning to bring in prayer as part of medical treatment.

The filmmakers interview people who have experienced outstanding healings that they attribute to prayer. A Roman Catholic woman recovered from severe brain damage. Michael Lanham lived through a life-threatening illness. "Every time they'd tell me something bad, I'd turn to my church group, and they'd say, 'no, we're not going to accept that,' " his wife says. He is convinced prayer saved his life.

In the program skeptical doctors say his healing and others are the result of the "placebo effect." Other doctors don't claim to know why prayer appears to be so effective, but are still willing to pray with their patients.

And while the placebo effect may help explain an adult's healing, what about a child's? In the program, a couple tells about the distress they felt when their 20-month-old toddler was diagnosed with a leukemia-like disease, ITP. She grew sicker under medical care and finally the wife, who had been raised in Christian Science, asked her husband if they could rely on prayer in Christian Science. The child recovered fully within a month, has had no recurring symptoms, and is now a healthy 15-year-old. Their next-door neighbor, a medical nurse-practitioner, saw it all and is shown commenting with wonder on the healing.

Skeptics abound in the documentary, of course, including those critical of Christian Scientists' sole dependence on prayer. One doctor asserts it's a bad idea to mix religion and medicine. He also says religion doesn't need science to prove itself because "it is independently valuable. And attempts to use science to validate religion [are] clearly offensive."

But other doctors say they should use any effective means they can find to treat patients. Today, half of American medical schools offer courses in health and spirituality, and the National Institutes of Health is funding research on the connection between spirituality and healing.

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