Just finished attending this lecture at the Virginia EMS Symposium. The class/discussion was off to a rough start when it turned out the original presenter had to bow out. A family emergency had a child in the hospital....
One of the state employees stepped up to the plate, one who happened to be an ordained minister. The discussion, such as it was, went fairly predictably. Some quotes of a University of Virginia study, more quotes from other sources indicating that faith plays a positive role in personal health( a point I tried to point out was different than that of the effectiveness of prayer). The bulk of the time was spent in what amounted to personal testimonials on how prayer helped people, or how "intuition" saved them from bad outcomes.
I limited my responses during the discussion, simply because it was self defeating to try to "shoot down" every example. I did try to correct certain misconceptions about science. There was an insinuation that science tries to "disprove" God or "hates" God because God can't be seen or touched.
All in all a disappointment in how the whole thing went. I dont have any idea of what direction the original presenter might have gone. But of the 26 people there, only one other expressed something that could be construed as a low key statement of criticism, and one other holding to more of a "new age" nebulous form of theism. I've submitted a suggestion to have a discussion along the lines of "Religion in the back of the Bus", a look at what sort of discussions, if any, are appropriate in the EMS setting. We'll know in a few months if the idea sells.
One of the state employees stepped up to the plate, one who happened to be an ordained minister. The discussion, such as it was, went fairly predictably. Some quotes of a University of Virginia study, more quotes from other sources indicating that faith plays a positive role in personal health( a point I tried to point out was different than that of the effectiveness of prayer). The bulk of the time was spent in what amounted to personal testimonials on how prayer helped people, or how "intuition" saved them from bad outcomes.
I limited my responses during the discussion, simply because it was self defeating to try to "shoot down" every example. I did try to correct certain misconceptions about science. There was an insinuation that science tries to "disprove" God or "hates" God because God can't be seen or touched.
All in all a disappointment in how the whole thing went. I dont have any idea of what direction the original presenter might have gone. But of the 26 people there, only one other expressed something that could be construed as a low key statement of criticism, and one other holding to more of a "new age" nebulous form of theism. I've submitted a suggestion to have a discussion along the lines of "Religion in the back of the Bus", a look at what sort of discussions, if any, are appropriate in the EMS setting. We'll know in a few months if the idea sells.