Faith Digest

Reliance on God and treatment linked. Cancer patients who consider the length of their lives to be “in God’s hands” are more willing than others to spend money on treatments that might extend their lives, a new study shows. Michelle Martin, an assistant professor at the University of Alabama, based her research on findings of a National Cancer Institute study of 4,214 patients with colorectal and lung cancer. The study, reported in a recent issue of the journal Cancer, also found African-Americans were more willing to spend all their resources to extend their life than members of other racial and ethnic groups.

Impure holy water? A BBC investigation has claimed holy drinking water from Mecca is contaminated with arsenic and is being sold illegally to Muslims at shops in Britain. The BBC report said its investigation uncovered Zamzam water has been found bottled in large quantities at Islamic bookshops in London and the airport city of Luton, and tests turned up high levels of arsenic and nitrates. Zamzam water comes from a well near the Islamic holy city of Mecca and is considered sacred by Muslim pilgrims. Pilgrims are allowed to bring back small amounts from Saudi Arabia, but the water cannot be exported for commercial use.

Minority of atheist scientists ‘spiritual.’ More than 20 percent of atheist scientists consider themselves to be “spiritual,” according to a Rice University study. The findings, to be published in the June issue of the journal Sociology of Religion, are based on in-depth interviews with 275 natural and social scientists from 21 of the nation’s top research universities. Elaine Howard Ecklund, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of sociology at the Houston university, and her team found that these “spiritual atheists” viewed not believing in God “as an act of strength, which for them makes spirituality more congruent with science than religion.” They viewed spirituality as congruent with science but not with religion because a religious commitment requires acceptance of an absolute “absence of empirical evidence.”

Plans for interfaith school shelved. A seminary affiliated with American Baptist Churches USA and the United Church of Christ has scrapped plans to partner with a Unitarian Universalist school to create a new model of reli-gious higher education. Andover Newton Theological School near Boston and Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago canceled plans to create a multifaith institution. Although the schools’ different religious identities were a key aspect of the negotiations, presidents of both schools said other matters—from finances to accreditation issues—prompted a halt to their talks. “We’re tied to the real world of institutions and constituencies and fiduciary responsibility,” said Lee Barker, president of Meadville Lombard. “But in no way in my mind does that undermine the vision of what we were trying to do.” The two schools still plan to offer joint programs for their doctorate of ministry students, including a preaching class in June at Andover Newton.

–Compiled from Religion News Service

Editor's Note:  In the next-to-last sentence of the last item as originally posted, Lee Barker was incorrectly identified as president of Andover Newton. The article has been corrected to note Barker is president of Meadville Lombard.  Nancy Nienhuis, dean of students and vice president for strategic initiatives at Andover Newton Theological Student added: "Andover Newton is moving ahead with its plans to create a multifaith model for seminary education; we just won’t be doing so with Meadville Lombard. Our current work with the Hebrew College Rabbinical School continues to be a part of this vision, as do new initiatives with other schools that will further broaden our multifaith focus."