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The following talk was presented by Eric Nelson at the April 2017 Stanford Medicine X | ED, an academic medical conference hosted by Stanford University devoted to the improvement of patient-centered medical education. 

First of all, I want to thank y...

“The difference between placebos and prayer,” said Dr. Harold Koenig during a workshop he was giving at Duke University’s Center for Spirituality, Theology, and Health, “is that with placebos we know there’s no active ingredient, whereas with prayer...

Even if you’re not much of a Bible reader, you’ve likely heard the story.

God creates Adam, and out of Adam he creates Eve. He tells them both not to eat from “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” but a talking snake convinces them to do other...

Just before the 2012 presidential election, researchers from the University of Notre Dame determined that the less people lie, the better they feel, both mentally and physically. Almost five years later, as we find ourselves listening practically 24/...

Although I have no scientific evidence to back me up, I’d say a good number of religious people, as engaged and compassionate as they may be, live in a bubble. I should know. I’m one of them.

This bubble is enormous. So enormous, in fact, that I’m abl...

It’s ironic, perhaps, that an essential element in healing hate was articulated so simply, so profoundly, by someone who had just been convicted of a hate crime.

“That is not me,” said Kayla Norton, after a judge sentenced her to 15 years in prison fo...

Spring training has only just begun, but already I can tell that my favorite baseball team is not going to make it to the World Series. (I’m too embarrassed to mention the team by name.) Even so, thanks to the example set by last year’s Chicago Cubs,...