Every minute of every day people from across the globe and from all religious traditions pray. Whether their prayers are offered at home, at work, in nature, in a church, synagogue, mosque, temple, or elsewhere, at any given moment, millions are participating in some prayerful religious activity. What are they praying for? Certainly, prayers for health and healing must be close to the top of the list.

There has been tremendous interest in the relationship between religious faith and health for thousands of years. Regardless of religious tradition, people have sought religious guidance and spiritual support to help prevent, recover from, or cope with mental and physical health problems. In fact, it was the healing miracles of Jesus that resulted in so much attention and commotion during the early part of his ministry. "The blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk ... " (Matthew II: 5) certainly resulted in quick notoriety for Jesus and his followers.