9
votes

The New Religion?

posted June 3, 2008 - 2:25am
The New Religion?

For most people, the idea of health care probably conjures up images of doctors and nurses working in surgeries and hospitals. However, the influence of medicine is no longer confined to merely treating the sick. Medical institutions are becoming increasingly powerful in influencing how people should or should not behave.< p>

In terms of social control and regulating behaviour, it seems to me that medicine is beginning to take over some of the functions previously associated with established religion and that the question of Good vs Evil is being replaced with the medical distinction of Healthy vs Unhealthy. They now preach to us like priests and prophets once did.

For example: demands to regulate sexual behaviour are now based less on the spiritual grounds of sinfulness and promiscuity and more on the medical grounds of threats to physical health like sexually transmitted diseases.

To continue this comparison: where religion promises damnation in the after-life for bad behaviour, medicine instead promises poor health and physical disability as punishment for wrong-doing. On the other hand, good behaviour like exercising and eating well is rewarded with good health.

It seems that medical institutions are becoming increasingly powerful by developing programmes that can be seen as a form of social control and this has serious ethical questions. Should they be allowed to continue? Should they be allowed this much control?

Author: taranitely
-A +A


Comments

Fair enough

Martin123 - Tue, 2008-10-6 3:53 am
"I allow you to dispute and reject anything you want. I expect it" You personally (and many with you) might allow it but the institution called religion is based on faith, faith does not invite discussion in the same the way science does, that was my point.

Unlike religion we allow the

eggsovresy - Mon, 2008-9-6 8:38 pm
Unlike religion we allow the facts to be disputed and rejected. Up above is your quote sir. Martin123 that is THE lie. I allow you to dispute and reject anything you want. I expect it. Religion is satan's ace trump. That is why one can talk like this about it. Parallels religion and Christiany run just as fast as the other in this discussion. SWEET! I THINK the elder women in healthcare. Should tell the young girls the same THINGS that Taranitely is saying is dangerous. A nation with alot of elderly female healthworkers is BLESSED. LOL My arguement for global warming and absolutes were to challenge taranitely not yell at her. Human nature sometimes tends to bully. I am too sensitive for that.

Not Quite

taranitely - Mon, 2008-9-6 1:04 pm
What you are describing is not really the problem I am talking about. It is not a form of control. Coming back to the reference to pop culture: people are practically forced to obey the demands of pop culture, otherwise they may be ostracized or excluded. This is what I meant by social control: you can't chose the other option. Medicine has not reached this stage yet. It is not yet social control. But, it has the potential to become more like pop culture and that is what we need to be weary of.

Follow my posts: taranitely

You're right

Martin123 - Mon, 2008-9-6 11:27 am
I do not see the threat because I am the the threat;-) I work in healthcare and me and my colleagues give people advice based on what we know is good for them in order to help them ,sometimes we agree and sometimes we don't , there's really not much more to it. Unlike religion we allow the facts to be disputed and rejected

Trying Again

taranitely - Mon, 2008-9-6 8:09 am
Really, I did not say it was a problem yet, just that it had the potential to become a problem. My whole point is that you do not see the threat. A parallel is not exactly the same, It just has things in common. I think I have made these things clear, so I stand by my words. Lastly, let us not bring my post on Global Warming into this. I only posted that because it was hot on Google Trends. My stance is that, while there is no clear proof of Global Warming, pumping large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere can't be good as it upsets whatever equilibrium exists. I do not have enough information to get into a debate about that.

Follow my posts: taranitely

By the way

Martin123 - Sun, 2008-8-6 2:40 pm
Read your article concerning your faith in global warming. By your own arguments in this (the one I'm commenting) article global warming is also a religion! You can draw all the same parallells as you do the healthcare system. Are we supposed to believe the climate researchers just because they say the earth is heating and we're supposedly to blame? Actually by your definition global warming hysteria would be even more of a religion because you cannot as easily and directly demonstrate the effects and it's a much younger science that has had less time to progress. Of course climate change is not religion but a lot of followers treat it like one and I agree a lot of health freaks do too, but who does the responsibility for this belong to if not the individuals that embrace these sciences in religous way? Don't blame science ,rather blame people's poor understanding of science!

It is very different

Martin123 - Sun, 2008-8-6 2:24 pm
"So tell me how different is this to religion? People had to have faith that the words of the prophets were true. Now we have to have faith that the scientists and researchers' words are true" It is fundamentally different from religion because the facts medical scientists serves us can be tested and approved and reapproved or rejected by any third party who wishes to do so In fact that is exactly what is going on in universities all over the world! People are putting the claims put forward by medical scientists and other scientists trough systematical reviews and analysis to verify and approve the validity of their claims. Can this be done with religion? I'm not american or british so I'm not sure exactly how your healthcare system works, however I read various medical journals in english mostly from the American and British universities and I assure these have a very high standard, they are also freely available to the public. Encouraging moderation when it comes to sex as you refer to is recommended but since when did encouragement become social control? I think you're reading to much into this, at least I don't see the immediate threat of the healthcare system becoming a powerful mind control institution like you suggest. It is entirely different from religion! of course you can find parallels but you can find parallells to just about anything if you look for them

Sure, I agree

kjhack - Sun, 2008-8-6 1:00 pm
And as for religion, Kjhack, it clearly has a lot of useful wisdom in it, regardless of whether you believe is was started by God or by people. Even non-believers should look to it as a source of guidance. There is much wisdom to be found in religious texts. But regardless of whether or not one believes in God, religion is most certainly man-made. Sorry if my post was a overly facetious. It was late, and I get a bit silly when I'm tired. But I do believe there might be some truth to what I said. :) ↑ Grab this Headline Animator Join Xomba

 
 

Can we have it both ways

eggsovresy - Sun, 2008-8-6 1:01 pm
My goodness I can start some indepth conversation. I wish xomba paid us for that. Religion is satan's ace trump. I can worship baseball if I wanted to. I watch my Colorado Rockies religiously. And the way my my momma makes perogi ought to be a religion. Has nothing to do with Christianity. So in a sense I am saying. No virtue and integrity between man and women. YOU WILL FIND THE NEW RELIGION! IN FACT YOU WILL NEED IT. Pop culture is a way of life. Meant for self gratification. Stay skinny, work out, wear your pants down around your thighs, show more skin, diet, music etc... In this culture you have men telling women how to dress how much to eat and what a MAN wants. And the men doing this, hate women. And we wonder where the eating disorders come from? Or why the plastic surgery that makes a beautiful soft woman look like a tawny grasshopper is being forced down our throats. These are pretenders. Actions like this are, whether you know it or not. Are for a reaction and self gratification. Not with any ryme or reason. Just self gratification. I call it a mind f___k. Because that is what it is. What gets me is the public is so busy trying please it's every whim they buy into it. Your quote... Scientists and researchers claim they have found things to be healthy or unhealthy and we are simply supposed to believe them? Taranitely, you have a post on global warming. How do you say this now. Does the human race just believe things when it benefits themselves? Do people buy into global warming cause some scientists said so? I know there is alot of scientists who laugh at this global warming theory. http://www.xomba.com/when_its_hot_its_summer_when_its_cold_its_winter Hope you read it and tell me what you think.

It Has the Potential

taranitely - Sun, 2008-8-6 11:30 am
Martin123 wrote:Not true, healthcare has been a lot more than that for a long time! As mentioned prevention is also treatment and it's not just to save future work for healthcare workers. Modern health care was mostly concerned with the treatment of acute problems, with millions of dollars poured into research to treat these. It was less concerned with chronic and degenerative and is still not really able to deal with these. That's why they advocate healthy behaviour to prevent these: because they can't treat it. Sure, this is a noble sentiment. I agree. My point is that we should not allow it to get to a point whether they are able to say "do this" and we comply. We need to be careful. If I may use another example of pop culture, which is also a religion of sorts. Pop culture says something like women should be thin, so women and young girls start dieting everywhere. This is what I meant by too much control. Martin123 wrote:Your parallels are not valid. Medicine is rooted in an observable unchangeable reality, this approach is called a scientific approach and is a diametrical opposite to religion which is based in belief. Scientists and researchers claim they have found things to be healthy or unhealthy and we are simply supposed to believe them? We don't get to see the data. We have to have faith that what they are saying is true. Good example: margarine vs. butter. They tell us different things all the time. If the medical system gains to much control and that power falls into the wrongs hands, we will have a lot of trouble. Research can be doctored so that any desired finding can be reached. This is control, not protection. So tell me how different is this to religion? People had to have faith that the words of the prophets were true. Now we have to have faith that the scientists and researchers' words are true. Martin123 wrote:You are in control of you unless you let somebody else be This applies equally to health care and religion. Eggsoversy, this isn't so much about medicine vs. real religion as about whether modern health care could become a form of social control. I think you will find that medicine now preaches a similar message to religion. For example, it encourages people to be faithful to a single partner. While this isn't the same as abstinence before marriage, it is a fairly close substitute and more likely in today's times.

Follow my posts: taranitely

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

Post new comment

  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • You can use BBCode tags in the text. URLs will automatically be converted to links.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <p> <br> <b> <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <img> <span> <object> <param> <embed> <table> <tr> <td> <div>
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.

More information about formatting options

Join Xomba Today

Do you like to write? Would you like to make a little extra money on the side? These people do. Join the Xomba community today.
Become a Member