Belief System and Health

Abstract

Do we require God to live a good moral and rati onal life? Do we require the help of God to be healthy and happy or provide healthcare to suffering people? Do we require God to have good governance? Do we require God for a free and secular society? Is God just an idea? The belief system aff ects the health acti on of a human being therefore, it is always a subject of discussion among all societi es in the world. Secularisati on implies the progress of society towards modernisati on and rati onalisati on and the loss of authority of religion in all aspects of social life and governance. Secularisati on of health means demysti fying, rati onalising, and adopti ng scienti fi c processes for gaining health. It removes all misconcepti ons, myths, and religious belief systems that are associated with diseases and health, which means practi sing evidencebased medicine and public health. A community will not become healthy till all risk factors are rooted out. These risk factors are poverty, poor education, degradati on of the environment, poor sanitati on and water supply, inequity in healthcare, casteism, corrupti on, defecti ve lifestyles, drug use, gender inequality, unplanned urbanisati on, religious practi ces, and belief systems. Religious practi ces, myths, and belief systems are more related to poor literacy. All these factors are interrelated and create a web of causati on of human suff ering. Most educati onal insti tuti ons have failed to fulfi l their consti tuti onal duti es to promote scienti fi c temper, humanism, and a spirit of inquiry and reform. Even medical insti tuti ons conti nue to believe that prayers to God and faith healing are eff ecti ve in the treatment of illness. Most health professionals believe in miracles and that Godmen are capable
of performing such miracles.

How to cite this article:
Kishore J. Belief System and Health. Int J Preven
Curat Comm Med. 2024;10(1&2):32-34

DOI: htt ps://doi.org/10.24321/2454325X.202404