Public Health and the Alleviation of Suffering: The Interface of Religion and Health
Panelists: Dr. Doug Oman, University of California, Berkeley;
Dr. Everett Worthington, Virginia Commonwealth University; and,
Dr. Ellen Idler, Emory University
Moderator: Dr. Tyler VanderWeele, Harvard University School of Public Health
Three scholars will explore religious responses to suffering from a public health perspective, moderated by Dr. Tyler VanderWeele.
Dr. Oman will begin the session with a presentation titled, “Public health and the roles of the social environment in preventing and alleviating suffering: Contributions from religion/spirituality”. In his talk, Dr. Oman will draw on material from a new book that he edited that provides a comprehensive set of empirical reviews from the perspective of major public health subfields, Why Religion and Spirituality Matter for Public Health: Evidence, Implications, and Resources (Springer International, 2018). Dr. Oman’s presentation will highlight evidence of community-level measures of religion and spirituality, such as neighborhood-level counts of congregations or averages of community members' religiousness, and the effects on longevity, suicide, depression, psychological well-being, and self-rated health. He will also present evidence on the links between community and individual religion and spirituality to crime and violence, income inequality, disaster response, community-level stress-buffering, environmental health, social identity, and prejudice.
Following Dr. Oman’s empirical overview, Dr. Worthington will highlight the connection between empirical evidence and public health practice in his presentation titled, “The place where religion, public health, and forgiveness meet: the local congregation”. Dr. Worthington’s talk will highlight the growing burden of mental health needs in the US and the role local congregations can play in delivering mental health services. He will explain how his research identifies lack of forgiveness as a barrier to improved mental, physical, and spiritual health and will describe his program to promote congregation-wide forgiveness, currently being tested in churches of various denominations in Australia, Philadelphia, and Richmond. He will also present data on the outcomes of a forgiveness-based public health campaign deployed across an entire Christian college campus. Dr. Worthington will close by discussing ways
to combine learning from the public health intervention and work among religious congregations into a society-wide public health effort.
To end the session, Dr. Idler will present a case study of the global public health exhibited during in the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone. During her presentation, Dr. Idler will describe the dire circumstances of the outbreak, spurred by transmission during religious burial ceremonies. She will then detail the efforts of the multi-lateral agencies and local NGOs to mobilize religious leaders and collaboratively develop safe burial practices that honored sacred religious traditions while protecting grieving families and communities from contracting the disease. Dr. Idler will present data on transmission rates before and after safe burial interventions and highlight key lessons learned about the relationship between religion and public health in times of crisis and suffering.
Dr. Oman will begin the session with a presentation titled, “Public health and the roles of the social environment in preventing and alleviating suffering: Contributions from religion/spirituality”. In his talk, Dr. Oman will draw on material from a new book that he edited that provides a comprehensive set of empirical reviews from the perspective of major public health subfields, Why Religion and Spirituality Matter for Public Health: Evidence, Implications, and Resources (Springer International, 2018). Dr. Oman’s presentation will highlight evidence of community-level measures of religion and spirituality, such as neighborhood-level counts of congregations or averages of community members' religiousness, and the effects on longevity, suicide, depression, psychological well-being, and self-rated health. He will also present evidence on the links between community and individual religion and spirituality to crime and violence, income inequality, disaster response, community-level stress-buffering, environmental health, social identity, and prejudice.
Following Dr. Oman’s empirical overview, Dr. Worthington will highlight the connection between empirical evidence and public health practice in his presentation titled, “The place where religion, public health, and forgiveness meet: the local congregation”. Dr. Worthington’s talk will highlight the growing burden of mental health needs in the US and the role local congregations can play in delivering mental health services. He will explain how his research identifies lack of forgiveness as a barrier to improved mental, physical, and spiritual health and will describe his program to promote congregation-wide forgiveness, currently being tested in churches of various denominations in Australia, Philadelphia, and Richmond. He will also present data on the outcomes of a forgiveness-based public health campaign deployed across an entire Christian college campus. Dr. Worthington will close by discussing ways
to combine learning from the public health intervention and work among religious congregations into a society-wide public health effort.
To end the session, Dr. Idler will present a case study of the global public health exhibited during in the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone. During her presentation, Dr. Idler will describe the dire circumstances of the outbreak, spurred by transmission during religious burial ceremonies. She will then detail the efforts of the multi-lateral agencies and local NGOs to mobilize religious leaders and collaboratively develop safe burial practices that honored sacred religious traditions while protecting grieving families and communities from contracting the disease. Dr. Idler will present data on transmission rates before and after safe burial interventions and highlight key lessons learned about the relationship between religion and public health in times of crisis and suffering.