In a recent survey of more than a thousand physicians, over a third of respondents said that religion and spirituality help prevent specific medical events like heart attacks, infections and even death.

However, physicians who were themselves highly religious and spiritual were more than seven times as likely as those with low levels of religiosity and spirituality to believe that religion is a large influence on health.

The study appeared in the April 9 issue of The Archives of Internal Medicine. Dr. Farr A. Curlin, one of the co-authors of the report, told The New York Times that few topics in medicine cause more disagreement among doctors than the relationship between religion and health.