Christian Worldview Concepts

Church Based Medicine

A Dissident Medical Community Defined

Previously, I addressed the need for a dissident community of medical practice. A dissident medical community is defined as one that understands the practice of medicine to be principally a moral commitment, an application of intrinsic moral convictions to the conditions of human physical suffering. The dissident physician acknowledges this basic moral commitment through the expression of Christian convictions in his or her clinical practice, and through a steadfast commitment to the medical virtues expressed in the traditional oaths and medical codes of ethics (e.g., Hippocratic Oath).

By contrast, "secularized" physicians dutifully acknowledge the validity of medical ethics, but become remarkably pragmatic and lapse into moral relativism when confronted with real moral dilemmas in medical practice. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the mainstream of the medical community is heavily populated with the latter. Thus, the committed Christian practitioner, nurse, etc., finds it a moral challenge to remain engaged in medical practice while remaining faithful to the Christian moral tradition.