I picked up an old copy of Time magazine the other day that had a piece on Tom Cruise and the movie "Minority Report", discussing his advocacy for the Church of Scientology, an organization founded by science-fiction writer, L. Ron Hubbard, and the theme of the movie - blending new age 'spirituality' and technology in order to prevent crime. And I thought about another article I had read about two doctors who, as part of the 19 member "CAM" commission, wrote a separate letter from the commission's final report to former President, Bill Clinton because they were not in complete agreement with the report. In 2000 Clinton appointed a White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy "to provide a report to the President on legislative and administrative recommendations for assuring that public policy maximizes the benefits to Americans of complementary and alternative medicine." In their letter, the two doctors claim the most concerning part of the report was the inclusion of spirituality under the banner of "CAM." They wrote, "There is no question that many Americans find comfort in prayer, religion and/or spiritual practices and that more attention should be paid to the role of spirituality in health care. Nonetheless, it is disconcerting that the Report often categorizes spirituality as a "CAM" modality. The Report cites papers that assert that when a patient is diagnosed with cancer and turns to prayer for comfort, he or she is considered to be using 'CAM'...the conflation of spirituality and/or religion with CAM could lead to an abridgement of the free exercise of religion by subjugating its practice to a regulated modality." What do you think - do they have cause for concern?
Weekend movie suggestion: Check out "Minority Report". Tom Cruise is a Precrime Enforcer who uses precogs to find potential future murderers, only to find himself accused of the same. It's a futuristic look at society's willingness to sacrifice privacy for security. Read more at Sharon's Movie Picks.
© Sharon Hughes 2004
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3 comments:
Some of what we call alternative medicine is valid and now proven by science such as the benefits of vitamin supplementation which was once poo-pooed by doctors. But that does not mean all alternative medicine is good even though we can't prove it yet. Some of the new age "spirituality" that is tied to alt. medicine are not beneign as far as exposure to the unseen world.
I'd like to see more on the cam report you write about here. Is this the only thing the 2 doctors were concerned with?
Here is a link to an "alternative medicine" site (reflexology) to see how the AM side views CAM
http://www.reflexology-usa.org/articles/health_forum.htm
And here is the Executive Summary for the White House
http://www.whccamp.hhs.gov/es.html
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