Are Religion and Acupuncture Compatible?

For every practice or thought, there is anindividuals to believe that acupuncture is evil or
opposite viewpoint. This is true with religiouswrong.
beliefs, political beliefs, and even opinions andHowever, for the most part, acupuncture is
studies of the environment. As humans, we bothreceiving a positive welcome in communities
consciously and unconsciously choose to believe aaround the globe. Perhaps this is because of
side. There are many, many individuals who canexercise programs, such as Yoga and Pilates,
see the reasoning on both sides of the proverbialwhich have become so popular. Asian culture has
fence, but there are also those that are staunchlyexploded into the main stream in fashion, thought,
devoted and will see no side other than their own.spirituality, technology, and medicine. Years ago,
Medical treatments are no exception to this rule.such things as acupuncture and Yoga were only
There are religious groups through out the world,for the "beatniks". The regular Joe did not practice
including some who believe that a transfusion ofsuch things and would not have heard the positive
blood is sacrilegious and would never takebenefits, but nowadays, people around the globe
someone else's blood into their body, as it makeswant different choices when it comes to their
them "impure". There are some who do notbodies. Many individuals want to try to live a life
believe in modern medicine and still, to this day,with minimal medication and invasive procedures,
practice holistic medicine. However, most religionsturning to nature to help with illness and pain.
do not have a prejudice against Western medicineAcupuncture is a good alternative.
in whole, but may be against particular things,Acupuncture, as mentioned before, has to do with
such as prescriptions for depression. Many Easternthe flow of energy in the body. The energy flows
religions have given birth to medical practices ofalong pathways, fourteen to be precise, which are
their own. An example of this would be Taoism.called meridians. All along the meridian, there are
Taoism believes in studying nature and itspoints within that can become blocked.
influences upon man. From this belief andAcupuncture is used to unblock the meridian and
observation rose the practice of acupuncture,allow the energy to flow. This is done with the
which has to do with the flow of energy, Qiuse of long, thin, solid needles, but most people
(pronounced chee), and how those affect areasreport that the procedure is painless, so do not
of the body.worry.
Many religions consider that believing in outsideThe medical field and the health-care services we
energies is a farce and their followers will spurnchoose to receive fall into our set of values and
procedures using such magic and mystery. Othersbeliefs, be they moral or religious. Certainly, the
discount the studies of researchers, consideringultimate decision to accept acupuncture or
the strength of acupuncture to lie in the possibilityconsider it nothing more than psychological smoke
of something intangible, such as Qi. Bibles andand mirrors remains yours alone, depending much
scriptures of all types warn against the "Devil'son your personal group of beliefs and your opinion.
work" and mysticism, which leaves some