efferson's "fence" of separation between church and state? That's an idea being proposed by psychiatrist David Larson, who according to a report aired on Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network, suggests that the First Amendment needs to be reconfigured in order to deal with an alleged epidemic of youth violence.

   Last night's opening segment of the CBN "700 Club" program included a segment by reporter Gailon Totheroh titled "Kids and Psychiatric Drugs: Quick Fix or Harmful Mix?" Totheroh noted that one of the youngsters behind the Columbine High School shootings last April, Eric Harris, was taking the prescription drug Luvox which in some cases may result in mania. "And maniacs sometimes kill," observed Totheroh. Other students linked to school violence were using prescribed drugs such as Ritalin and Prozac, a fact which prompted psychiatrist Peter Breggin to suggest, "We've had guns in this society for a long time, we've had angry children for a long time, but it's only in recent years that we're getting these really bizarre kinds of school shootings... I believe that very well could be the influence of the drugs."

   While other mental health professionals debated the existence of a link between violence and legal, prescribed drugs, psychiatrist David Larson has a different approach. Totheroh reported, "Beyond the medical questions surrounding school violence are mental health concerns, including spiritual faith. Psychiatrist David Larson says, for the sake of the kids, we might lower the wall keeping church and state apart."

   Larson declared, "Where nothing is working, whether it's violence or at-risk populations in poor environments, we need to look for factors that might be effective. And where nothing's working, maybe that wall needs to become more of a fence." Larson went on to blame factors such as family breakdown for an alleged rise in school violence.

   Dr. Larson is one of a number of credentialed experts insisting that there are important links between positive health, both mental and physical, and religious belief. He currently is a research psychiatrist and president of the private National Institute for Healthcare Research in Rockville, Maryland, and has made a number of claims concerning spirituality and medical healing. He says that in a review of medical literature, 19 of 20 studies indicated that religion played a "positive role in preventing alcoholism," and 16 out of 17 studies indicated a similar link in reducing rates of suicide. Larson's claims are reported extensively in the religious press, such as an article which appeared in "Breakpoint With Charles Colson" (former Watergate crook-turned-evangelist) which claimed, "Religiously committed people report much higher levels of satisfaction with their marriage and much lower rates of divorce."

   According to the December 9, 1998 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), "Larson said physicians are ready to accept spirituality into their arsenal of treatment provided that good science backs it up." He suggests that physicians grill patients concerning their religious beliefs on the first office visit.

"The article specifically criticized Larson's approach as unethical ... The methodology was flawed, and at this point we have no evidence that religious belief is beneficial to health." --Kevin Courcey

   While claims of the alleged benefits between spirituality and mental or physical health proliferate, though, not all scientists and others in the field of medicine are convinced. Kevin Courcey, a mental health professional and writer remains skeptical, and notes that Larson's approach has been criticized in professional literature. He cites a piece in the respected British journal The Lancet (Lancet 1999; 353: 664-667), noting, "The article specifically criticized Larson's approach as unethical ... the methodology was flawed, and at this point we have no evidence that religious belief is beneficial to health." Courcey adds that the team investigating claims by Larson and others "went even further by pointing out that even if religious belief WAS shown to be beneficial, it would simply fall into a category like being married, or being wealthy." He noted that any physicians would be "way out of line if they suggested to a patient that what they needed to do was get married, since married people are healthier."

   Courcey agreed with other critics of Larson's claims that doctors who attempt to bring religion into the practice of scientific medicine "abuse their status as professionals."

   Another cause for skepticism, says Courcey, is that many articles which claim to establish a relationship between positive mental or physical health and religious belief often appear in publications such as "Journal of Christian Nursing," instead of the more mainstream outlets like JAMA. Popularized distillations of those articles then filter down into the mass market press which rarely investigates the claims made with any degree of thoroughness and objectivity.

   As for Larson's National Institute for Healthcare Research -- perhaps easily confused with the government National Institutes for Health -- Courcey notes that it is funded by Sir John Templeton, founder of the Templeton Prize for those promoting research favorable to religion. "It is chilling to think that Christian millionaires, pouring money into religious medical 'research' in an attempt to justify their own theistic delusions, have the power to jeopardize the health care we all receive by distracting medical professionals from the practice of efficacious medicine," observes Courcey.

   Dr. Larson and his supporters have now gone one step further, though, taking their "faith" in the link between god-belief and health to the political level. Protecting youngsters from violence -- all in the name of god -- is now the latest excuse for chipping away at Jefferson's wall of separation between church and state.

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