Faith and Organized Skepticism

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The early Christians saw themselves as part of a cosmic struggle of healing.  Each Christian had his or her part to play in healing individuals and the wider world from disease, from strife, from violence, and from all kinds of suffering.  The forces they engaged weren’t just personal ones, but were also much larger forces manifesting in social structures and spiritual forces that were oppressive.  Saint Paul described the struggle this way:

For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. – Ephesians 6: 12:  

These powers and principalities could harm individuals as well as whole communities of people. The early Christians had faith that they could do something about these larger forces. They believed they were aligned with a an even greater positive power and a principality that could bring wholeness not only to themselves and the people around them, not only to the society around them, but even change the very structure of the cosmos.

How do “powers and principalities” affect our health as individuals and as groups of people today?  What does it mean to be a healer in the face of these powers now?

Many folks associate Christian healing with the miraculous – “laying on hands” and praying for supernatural intervention for the cure of illnesses.  Surely prayer and the ritual aspect of our faith have value, as they concentrate our will power and compassion for the benefit of suffering people. But it is best for us to engage in such rituals alongside our embrace of science-based medical interventions.

Today, our national government is replacing scientific medical consensus with quackery.  Our national-level public health infrastructure is being systematically destroyed.  The consequences for the well-being of our people are already disastrous, as preventable diseases begin to spread, and people forgo proven treatments for unsubstantiated ones.  It is going to get much, much worse before it gets better.  As long as Robert F. Kennedy Jr heads the Department of Health and Human Services, the federal government will be an unreliable source of medical advice and public health interventions.

So today, the most important healing ministry of Christianity in America is to convince each other, and the wider public, to turn to reliable sources of medical advice and information.  The newly-formed West Coast Health Alliance of western state governments will provide science-based information and guidance.  The American Academy of Pediatrics continues to provide sound advice about immunizations.  The Mayo Clinic continues to provide solid information about diseases and conditions. 

The “power and principality” that presently endangers public and personal health in America is what I call “disorganized skepticism.” Being skeptical is a good thing: we do well to ask questions and challenge authority. But we must consider what kind of skepticism to employ.

Science is “organized skepticism.” Potential medical treatments are put to the test with rigorous protocols, and then subjected to ongoing skepticism through follow-up research on efficacy.  This process sometimes results in mistakes, and the scientific community is structured to follow them up with further research and improved treatments.

But this country has fallen prey to the “disorganized skepticism” of trusting anecdotal evidence over scientific rigor.  Lots of money is made by spreading misinformation and mistrust of science. Many people have lost faith in academic and medical institutions because of their real or perceived failures, so they grope for advice and treatments that have not been subject to scientific analysis. Our national governmental health system is now in the hands of people who have traded the “organized skepticism” of science for the “disorganized skepticism” of hearsay and flim-flam.

As progressive Christians who value religious myths for the insights they lift up, but not as sources of factual information, we are in an important position to help other people of faith to choose organized rather than disorganized skepticism.  We are uniquely able to guide our fellow citizens toward an embrace of sound, science-based medicine.  This is our most important healing ministry today!