uki
09-27-2009, 03:00 AM
i thought this was interestingly related to the forums here... i suppose the real meat of the matter is that the catholic church is fearful of this "non-existent life energy" aka prana, chi, qi, and so forth...
Today, the Boston Globe reports that Catholic hospitals are banning the use of reiki, the practice of waving one's hands over a patient in the hopes of magically channeling a nonexistent "life energy" in order to promote healing. How nutty is this practice, exactly? Well, the Catholic Church officially believes in ghosts, zombies, multiplying dinner rolls, and crackers that are people, but even they're too savvy for this stuff.
The article presents a great example of "false balance," the journalistic practice of giving column inches to kooky ideas that aren't supported by the evidence, under the guise of presenting all viewpoints on an issue. The bulk of the Globe article is devoted to describing reiki as a system of healing that is "enjoying increasing popularity in the United States," which is only true in that yes, more people are doing it lately and yes, it "heals" in exactly the same way the placebo effect can seem to "heal."
On the pro-reiki side, the Globe quotes the following: Debbie Griseuk (reiki practitioner), Linda M. LaFlamme (executive director of the International Association of Reiki Professionals [IARPWTF]), and Kay Murphy (knee surgery patient who says it helped). On the anti-reiki side, they quote: a Catholic Bishop. The "der, I dunno" opinion comes from the director of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at MGH, a department that tragically appears to be short one hyphen and one informed opinion. The director's exact quotes are pretty valid, suggesting that it's probably the placebo effect, but the article seems to try to make his position seem less sure, with lines like, "With reiki, he says, the question remains: Is it based in science or the placebo effect?"
So what's missing here? The actual science!
The article's opposing view of reiki comes in the form of a bishop who mentions the fact that reiki isn't valid but concentrates more on his opinion that faith in reiki is at odds with faith in the Catholic god. It's common among Christian religions to oppose new age spirituality as a false religion, so it's no surprise that the Catholic Church has made the decision to ban reiki. And it is the correct decision, but not for that reason.
Discontinuing the practice of offering reiki in hospitals is the right move because reiki is pure, unadulterated pseudoscience with absolutely no scientific evidence to support it. Plus, while the article states that reiki is meant to supplement actual medical treatment, many people use it to replace the science-based medicine they need, like Debbie Harrison, an energy healing proponent who died of untreated diabetes in 2005. (Plenty more examples can be found here.)
One is moved to contemplate why the Globe is just now reporting on the ban of reiki several months after it was put in place, and why the Globe reporter chose to ignore the dangers of reiki in lieu of giving the practitioners a chance to peddle their pseudoscience.
Maybe we can ask about that today during the live chat with the aforementioned reiki practitioner Debbie Griseuk herself. We might also ask her about her final quote in the article: "Galileo was denounced by the Catholic Church. I don’t mind being in his company." We wonder if she has any idea who Galileo was and what that crazy stuff he was doing called "science."
now that was a pot stirrer...
source (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eScDfYzMEEw)
Today, the Boston Globe reports that Catholic hospitals are banning the use of reiki, the practice of waving one's hands over a patient in the hopes of magically channeling a nonexistent "life energy" in order to promote healing. How nutty is this practice, exactly? Well, the Catholic Church officially believes in ghosts, zombies, multiplying dinner rolls, and crackers that are people, but even they're too savvy for this stuff.
The article presents a great example of "false balance," the journalistic practice of giving column inches to kooky ideas that aren't supported by the evidence, under the guise of presenting all viewpoints on an issue. The bulk of the Globe article is devoted to describing reiki as a system of healing that is "enjoying increasing popularity in the United States," which is only true in that yes, more people are doing it lately and yes, it "heals" in exactly the same way the placebo effect can seem to "heal."
On the pro-reiki side, the Globe quotes the following: Debbie Griseuk (reiki practitioner), Linda M. LaFlamme (executive director of the International Association of Reiki Professionals [IARPWTF]), and Kay Murphy (knee surgery patient who says it helped). On the anti-reiki side, they quote: a Catholic Bishop. The "der, I dunno" opinion comes from the director of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at MGH, a department that tragically appears to be short one hyphen and one informed opinion. The director's exact quotes are pretty valid, suggesting that it's probably the placebo effect, but the article seems to try to make his position seem less sure, with lines like, "With reiki, he says, the question remains: Is it based in science or the placebo effect?"
So what's missing here? The actual science!
The article's opposing view of reiki comes in the form of a bishop who mentions the fact that reiki isn't valid but concentrates more on his opinion that faith in reiki is at odds with faith in the Catholic god. It's common among Christian religions to oppose new age spirituality as a false religion, so it's no surprise that the Catholic Church has made the decision to ban reiki. And it is the correct decision, but not for that reason.
Discontinuing the practice of offering reiki in hospitals is the right move because reiki is pure, unadulterated pseudoscience with absolutely no scientific evidence to support it. Plus, while the article states that reiki is meant to supplement actual medical treatment, many people use it to replace the science-based medicine they need, like Debbie Harrison, an energy healing proponent who died of untreated diabetes in 2005. (Plenty more examples can be found here.)
One is moved to contemplate why the Globe is just now reporting on the ban of reiki several months after it was put in place, and why the Globe reporter chose to ignore the dangers of reiki in lieu of giving the practitioners a chance to peddle their pseudoscience.
Maybe we can ask about that today during the live chat with the aforementioned reiki practitioner Debbie Griseuk herself. We might also ask her about her final quote in the article: "Galileo was denounced by the Catholic Church. I don’t mind being in his company." We wonder if she has any idea who Galileo was and what that crazy stuff he was doing called "science."
now that was a pot stirrer...
source (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eScDfYzMEEw)