Corona prayer and the practice of medicine

Julia Baird of the Sydney Morning Herald wrote today about prayer. To be fair she commends it as a tool. She even lets Mike Carlton speak in a kind way of our prime minister, "Morrison is shouldering a burden unmatched by any other Prime Minister."

Yet in her piece about Scott Morrison, our prime minister, and prayer, she alludes to the American evangelicals who were the focus of her opening disdain, "the small group of profoundly stupid American pastors denying the gravity of COVID-19." Rodney Howard-Browne and Jonathan Shuttlesworth were particularly named as was Margaret Court in Perth. 

Baird said, "Margaret Court’s Life Church in

Perth has stated that the “blood of Jesus” will protect their congregations, along with prayer and hand sanitizer." The church is named Victory Life Church. I like that Margaret is staying within the standards of the Australia government and believe that Victory Life should not be included in Baird's lambasting. The report she quoted from the news.com.au website was from 13 March. Since then Margaret continues to stay within government guidelines. Sensible. 

To be fair, Baird highlights prayer as a very good thing, quoting Brother Richard Hendrick of Ireland in his poem and prayer. She even cites the prayers offered by our prime minister. 

I prefer Scott Morrison's personal recommendation of praying to that of the US president. Compare Donald Trump's practice of medicine (without a license) by telling his Saturday audience ( the press conference) about hydroxychloroquine, "Take it. What's it going to hurt?" Who is Trump? A doctor? Is he legally recommending hydroxychloroquine to people who are suffering coronavirus? Shock!  There are significant side effects to this drug, and there are no real studies that prove it's safe for the coronavirus. Making decisions based on science or even historic developments is much better than wishing and hoping as Trump recommended. 

Prayer works. That 'science' is out there. In study after study from the National Institute of Health and the National Institute of Mental Health. Baird even cites a 2013 Georgia state study saying, "praying about a problem appeared to liberate cognitive resources that are presumably otherwise consumed by worry and rumination, leaving individuals better able to process other information, and additionally to bias attention to favor detection of problem-relevant information”

Today's a good day to start praying. Pray for your neighbors. Pray for your family. Pray for our prime minister. Pray that you yourself would keep sound in mind and body. Prayer works. Even after this viral pandemic is over. May it come soon, speedily and in our time. Amen.