DR. MARC SIEGEL: Miracles unite Americans across political divides through shared faith
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In a time of great political division, we need common ground to bring us together. Most of us believe in miracles. A recent Gallup poll found that three in four Americans identify with a specific religious faith – a majority of Christians, and nearly half say faith is very important in their lives. We can use this to unite as a country.
When we hear that someone has miraculously survived a cardiac arrest — as NFL safety Damar Hamlin did on a football field in Cincinnati in 2023, or Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., did on a baseball field after a shooting in 2017 — the last thing on our minds is whether they’re a Democrat or Republican.
As I describe in my new book, “Miracles Among Us,” in Rep. Scalise’s case, the doctors who performed the combined radiological and surgical interventional procedure to repair his severely torn iliac artery after transferring 50 units of transfused blood both said it was the most miraculous event of their careers. They also believe that Scalise’s “gratitude to God” played a direct role in his recovery.
DR MARC SIEGEL: MY PERSONAL MIRACLE: LESSONS FROM A DOCTOR ON FAITH AND HEALING
Scalise told me, “I never felt fear. Once I placed my life in God’s hands, an incredible calm and ease came over me.
Many of the subjects in my book report that when they experience a miracle, a calm comes over them, knowing that their lives are in God’s hands.
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., walks with his wife Jennifer from the House chamber to his office at the Capitol on his first day back in Congress, Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017. Scalise was shot during baseball practice for the Congressional Baseball Game in June 2017.
Dr. Robert Montgomery, chief of surgery at NYU, suffered seven cardiac arrests before undergoing a heart transplant. “In these experiences, I feel a connection with vastness, a connection with something much greater than my experiences on earth. I begin to become aware of my own breathing, and at first I am not sure what the sound is. And just before the moment when all my thoughts and memories come back, I am aware of a transcendence that goes far beyond anything human or this planet Earth we are on. I feel calm and serene. I feel my soul right before being in my body there is this overlap between the awareness of this immensity and the fact of knowing that I am a living being.
Many of the subjects in my book report that when they experience a miracle, a calm comes over them, knowing that their lives are in God’s hands.
Montgomery says this experience helps him be at peace with who he is and has allowed him to be a much more effective doctor and surgeon.
Jordan Grafman, a neurophysiologist at Northwestern University, recently discovered through functional MRI imaging and brain lesion mapping that belief in miracles relies on similar networks in the right side and front part of the brain, as does partisan political belief. Additionally, politics and spirituality are experienced similarly and lead to a desire to be part of a shared community – suggesting that one can sometimes replace the other.
DAMAR HAMLIN SUFFERED CARDIAC ARREST DURING MATCH, HEARTBEATER RESTORED ON FIELD, SAYS BILLS
Indeed, I do not believe that a rigid separation of church and state is good for either patient care or society. Why should a deeply religious doctor leave his clothes or tallis at the door of the hospital or doctor’s office? Why shouldn’t a godly doctor pray with his patients like Congressman Scalise’s doctors did?
Damar Hamlin watches the Buffalo Bills from his hospital bed on January 9, 2023. (Credit: @HamlinIsland / SPORTS REPORT+ /TMX)
Consider that recognizing a higher being who is in control can diminish one person’s desire to fear or challenge another. “Fear God, not your neighbor” is the lesson learned from the experiences of Scalise and Montgomery. This is a common theme in many religions and can help to assuage the anger that fuels our politics.
My 102-year-old father survived emergency bowel and hip surgery, a high-flow fistula, a month on a ventilator, and more than three years on dialysis out of love for my 100-year-old mother.
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Last week he told me how he had lived so long: “When someone throws a punch, I duck,” he said.
Cover of the book Split by Dr. Marc Siegel and Miracles Among Us. (FNC)
Praying for my patients means understanding that they are more than just bodies to repair, that they also have precious souls to nourish.
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This is the secret of good medicine, and it keeps me from dismissing one of my patients too soon. In each case, there may still be a miracle to be achieved.
Belief in miracles is also a path to mutual respect, regardless of political affiliation, in today’s tortured and divided times.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM DR. MARC SIÈGEL
