I read with great interest the article “A Course on Religion and Public Health at Harvard” by VanderWeele and Koenig,1 as this past fall I developed and taught a course with the same title at Ariel University—to my knowledge the first such course in the Middle East. I was pleased that our courses seemed remarkably similar and highlighted the current knowledge and implications of the religion–health connection, a subject that is nonetheless still oft neglected in education despite an increasing body of research supporting its importance. However, there are two topics that the article did not mention. These were included in the course at Ariel and I think they are worth describing, as they added value to the course.
One topic is the causal mechanisms for the relationship between religious involvement and health outcomes. There are sociological, psychological, behavioral, biological, and religious factors, among others, that can underlie the relationship between religion and health and have important implications for interventions as well as providing guidance for future research.2,3 For example, if religious leaders play a disproportionate role in the lives of their congregants, this may be a resource not fully tapped in developing interventions to reduce health inequalities.4,5
The second topic is the health policy implications in terms of both effectiveness and efficiency of faith-based interventions. For example, the government can potentially play a role in promoting such interventions, and the use of volunteerism found in religious communities can prove a cost-effective means of health promotion.6,7
Both these topics seem to me to be important additions. Nonetheless, kudos to the authors for their course. My hope is that the growing number of people teaching courses about religion and public health can all learn from each other.
REFERENCES
- 1.VanderWeele TJ, Koenig HG. A course on religion and public health at Harvard. Am J Public Health. 2017;107(1):47–49. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2016.303501. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 2.Krause N. Religion and health: making sense of a disheveled literature. J Relig Health. 2011;50(1):20–35. doi: 10.1007/s10943-010-9373-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 3.Koenig HG, King DE, Carson VB. Handbook of Religion and Health. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; 2012. [Google Scholar]
- 4.Trinitapoli J, Ellison CG, Boardman JD. Religious congregations and the sponsorship of health-related programs. Soc Sci Med. 2009;68(12):2231–2239. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.03.036. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 5.Lumpkins CY, Greiner KA, Daley C, Mabachi NM, Neuhaus K. Promoting healthy behavior from the pulpit: clergy share their perspectives on effective health communication in the African American church. J Relig Health. 2013;52(4):1093–1107. doi: 10.1007/s10943-011-9533-1. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 6.Park JZ, Smith C. “To whom much has been given...”: religious capital and community voluntarism among churchgoing Protestants. J Sci Study Relig. 2000;39(3):272–286. [Google Scholar]
- 7.Dilulio J., Jr . Godly Republic. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press; 2007. [Google Scholar]