Why Is This News?
Came across this on Yahoo! News the other day:

Survey: Most U.S. Doctors Believe in God
By LINDSEY TANNER, AP Medical Writer

CHICAGO - A survey examining religion in medicine found that most U.S. doctors believe in God and an afterlife — a surprising degree of spirituality in a science-based field, researchers say.

In the survey of 1,044 doctors nationwide, 76 percent said they believe in God, 59 percent said they believe in some sort of afterlife, and 55 percent said their religious beliefs influence how they practice medicine.

"We were surprised to find that physicians were as religious as they apparently are," said Dr. Farr Curlin, a researcher at the University of Chicago's MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics.

"There's certainly a deep-seated cultural idea that science and religion are at odds," and previous studies have suggested that fewer than half of scientists believe in God, Curlin said Wednesday.

But while medicine is science-based, doctors differ from scientists who work primarily in a laboratory setting, and their direct contact with patients in life-and-death situations may explain the differing views, Curlin said.

Dr. J. Edward Hill, president of the American Medical Association, said religion and medicine are completely compatible, as long as doctors do not force their own beliefs on patients.

Belief in "a supreme being ... is vitally important to physicians' ability to take care of patients, particularly the end-of-life issues that we deal with so often," said Hill, a family physician from Tupelo, Miss.

My first thought was "So, why is THIS news?" It is explained, of course, that those involved in science are often seen as less believing in God. But as the last parapgraph points out, when you are dealing with life and death issues as often as many doctors are, you have to find meaning and hope and direction somewhere. I have run into very few doctors who will argue about God or powers greater than themselves. Many will even make sure that the clergy are involved when possible in the care of their patients. They know that spirituality is essential to health.

Perhaps the "news" in this is that doctors were willing to take the survey and let us know that they are willing to give credit where it is ulti.mately due- in God