Is religion a medicine for what ails us? Does it have answers for our both physical and mental health problems and provides healing remedies for them? These questions crop up in everyone’s mind. In recent times, many comprehensive studies have consistently shown a strong association between being religious and good health and have documented the benefits of religious involvement in our life. Religion and spirituality can be helpful to manage stressful life events and improve one’s mental health. Religion helps learning and handling our problems, and develop our self-control, self-esteem, willpower, socio-spiritual and economic well-being, empathy, and improve the quality of health. Religion provides resources for coping with stress and increase the frequency of positive emotions that help reduce the likelihood of having emotional disorders such as depression, anxiety disorder, suicide, and substance abuse and thereby have a greater longevity, coping skills, and health-related quality of life. It also reduces the incidence of social pathologies such as prejudices, anxieties, crime, delinquency, drug and alcohol addiction, and sex and out-of-wedlock births.

In the human civilizations, religion and medicine have been interwoven with the conceptual basis of the relationship among human beings, nature, and the creator. In Ayurveda, the holistic system of medicine, the knowledge of medicine of sages and monks is revered and the principle of healthy living by maintaining the balance of Tridoshas is being derived from the ultimate and divine source of knowledge of life. The Buddha (563-477BC) instructed his disciples to nurse the sick and later King Ashoka, the follower of Buddhism, made provisions everywhere in his kingdom for medical treatment of human beings and animals. In Egypt, priests used to act as physicians and provided plant products as curative remedies. Later, Abrahamic religious groups also established hospitals and centers for medical education and provided care to the sick. This close relationship between religion and medicine continued for centuries. However, this link was disrupted when scientific methods started to be increasingly used for understanding nature and disease towards the end of 17^th century.

The persecution of Galileo (1564 to 1642) widened the gap between religion and science. Since the time of Newton (1642-1727), scientists accepted the view of material reality as governed by physical laws and attempted to keep faith and religious perspective separate from science and biomedicine. Historical events such as persecution of Galileo for supporting the Copernican view of the universe and remarkable advances in the application of scientific methods and technology in the 20 ^th century led to widening the gap between modern medicine, and religion. 

On the other hand, as chronic physical diseases characterized by slow dying process, gradual threat of disease and death in the late 20 ^th century, the notion of healing of the whole person with care for the body, mind, and spirit started gaining greater standing. Additionally, advancement in technology made healthcare increasingly mechanized. Now, life can be nourished for an indefinite period by concealing the distinction between life and death. However, healthcare professionals are confronted with questions of life and the meaning of suffering and death that have been addressed, traditionally and historically, by religion and spirituality. It is no surprise, then that the biopsychosocial-spiritual model of care with holistic approach has made its entry into the world of modern Western medicine with the aim of restoring the missing art of healing.

Religion, spirituality, health, and medicine have common roots in the conceptual framework of relationship amongst human beings, nature and spirituality. Recently, there has been an increasing interest in understanding the interplay of religion, spirituality, health and medicine, both in popular and scientific literature. A number of published empirical studies suggest that religious involvement is associated with better outcomes in physical and mental health irrespective of some methodological limitations. Now, many patients would like physicians to address their emotional and spiritual needs, when faced with disease, disability, and death. Therefore, physicians need to respectfully acknowledge religious issues and address the spiritual needs of their patients. The renewed interest in the interaction of religion and spirituality with health and medicine has significant implications in the medical field since religion and spirituality play important roles in the lives of millions of patients. Incorporating religion and spirituality into health and medicine play an important role in making the practice of medicine more holistic, ethical and compassionate. It may also offer new opportunities to learn more about Ayurveda and other traditional systems of medicine and have more enriched understanding and collaborative interaction between different systems of medicine. At the same time, many physicians may also find religion and spirituality significant and fulfilling in their own lives as well.

Earlier, many practitioners of modern medicine ignored religion and spirituality and considered patients' religious beliefs and practices as irrelevant and problematic superstition.  But, now the scenario has changed remarkably. Several books authored by physicians, research articles, commentaries and reviews on the interplay of religion, spirituality, health and medicine have been published in major medical, behavioral medicine and public health journals and popular literature.

These changes have not only been confined to individual practitioners, but also have pervaded institutional and professional bodies. Organizations including the American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Association, American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Physicians and Association of American Medical Colleges have stressed the need for addressing religious and spiritual issues, in patient care as well as in training of healthcare professionals. More than 80 US medical schools now offer courses on spirituality as part of their curriculum. Medical students in the West are now learning more about non-Western religions and the medical ethics of several faiths, traditions and are acquiring the skills of taking spiritual history of their patients into consideration.

Religion gives people certain collective principles to believe, provides a sense of structure, and offers an opportunity connect with similar beliefs. These facets can have a large positive impact on mental health. Religion can have a positive effect on health by directly influencing the health habits of individuals through the prohibition of health damaging behaviors and the prescription of health enhancing behaviors.

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