ABSTRACT
Religion plays an important part in people’s lives in all societies. A few statistics about the state of religion in the USA today are illuminating. Regarding individual beliefs about ‘God’, 95 per cent of Americans believe in God, more than 50 per cent pray daily and more than 40 per cent attend church weekly (Puchalski and Larson 1998). Interestingly, almost three-quarters of Americans say their approach to life is grounded in their religious faith. This includes the times when people are ill. Almost three-quarters of patients felt that their physician should address spiritual issues as part of their medical care. At the same time, about 40 per cent of patients wanted their physician to discuss their religious faith with them and almost 50 per cent of patients wanted their physician to pray with them.
