More than half of randomly surveyed adults -- 57 percent -- said God's intervention could save a family member even if physicians declared treatment would be futile. And nearly three-quarters said patients have a right to demand that treatment continue.
When asked to imagine their own relatives being gravely ill or injured, nearly 20 percent of doctors and other medical workers said God could reverse a hopeless outcome.
Sure, the delusion provides some hope, however misguided, but how must it feel when your personal God doesn't answer your prayers? Doesn't that just pile misery onto misery?
Pat Loder, a Milford, Michigan, woman whose two young children were killed in a 1991 car crash, said she clung to a belief that God would intervene when things looked hopeless.
"When you're a parent and you're standing over the body of your child who you think is dying ... you have to have that" belief, Loder said.
No, you don't. Millions survive tragic, devastating losses without that belief.
I can imagine no greater pain than losing a child and my heart goes out to anyone who suffers such a loss. But waiting for a miracle will provide only temporary hope. And what do you do when your child is gone? Continue to pray to a God who would let you suffer so? For most Americans, the answer is yes.
1 comment:
I'll never understand how someone in that situation can cling to faith once it's been proven useless.
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