We searched PubMed, PsycINFO, and CINAHL for articles published in English between Jan 1, 1975, and Dec 31, 2014 with the search terms “faith”, “religion”, “ethics”, “controversies”, and “health care”. We also searched websites of faith-based and secular organisations with expertise and experience in religious faith and health care.
SeriesControversies in faith and health care
Section snippets
Introduction and ethics
More than 80% of the world's population reported having a religious faith,1, 2 but attribution of individual health-related viewpoints to this faith is very difficult because of variations in acceptance of the authority and interpretation of sacred texts and viewpoints that might be substantially modified by culture, education, economics, politics, and laws. We describe a series of common religious faith-related controversies in health care, reviewing some teachings within the different faiths.
Family planning
Different viewpoints exist on when human life begins. Buddhists,6 Catholics,7 and Hindus8 teach that human life starts at the moment of conception. Protestants vary; some believe that human life starts at conception whereas others believe it starts at implantation or even later.9 Islam teaches that human life begins after 4 months of pregnancy, with the infusion of the spirit into the fetus.10 Judaism teaches that human life is progressively acquired, starting 40 days after conception.11
Many
Recommendations
A disturbing dearth of analysis of health-care-related controversies between and within religion exists; innovative research and documentation processes and programmes are urgently needed.103 Our Series paper merely identifies some faith-related factors affecting policy and practice in health care; deeper research, consideration, and action are needed.
Clinicians should become better informed about the faith drivers that affect their patient's attitudes, prejudices, behaviours, response to
Search strategy and selection criteria
This online publication has been corrected. The corrected version first appeared at thelancet.com on October 30, 2015
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Female Genital Mutlilation
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Grand Ayatollah Fadlallah responds to the question: “Is it true that Islam intends to inhibit and control lust in women with circumcision?”
Eliminating female genital mutilation in strategic approaches
Religious subgroups influencing vaccination coverage in the Dutch Bible belt: an ecological study
BMC Public Health
Inequitable childhood immunization uptake in Nigeria: a multilevel analysis of individual and contextual determinants
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Losing Trust—why immunisation programmes fail
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2021, Social NetworksCitation Excerpt :In faith-based interventions, increased religious attendance has often been reported but religious attendance should not be automatically interpreted as improved social support. Religion-linked social controversies include family planning, immunisation, genital mutilation, gender, and end-of-life issues (Tomkins et al., 2015). Churches want to save souls, which may include evangelism and mandating the adoption of beliefs of the delivering organization (Campbell, 2007).
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