One of the cruelest things that religious people can do is to blame [a lingering illness] on a lack of faith.  Barbara Taylor recalls a problem she encountered when she served as a chaplain at Georgia Baptist Hospital.  A group of Christians decided that part of their healing ministry was to go to the local hospital and pray for people who had cancer.  They would go into patients’ rooms, gather around the beds and pray that the patients would have enough faith to be healed.  It did not have a healing effect.  “It had a bludgeoning effect, as people who were already ill got a strong dose of guilt and shame to go along with their chemotherapy.”