According to the researchers from Oxford University, people who really have faith in God can ease pain. Karl Marx had famously said, “Religion is the opium for people.” 

To understand the power of faith healing, the researchers at the Oxford University conducted a study on 24 people, in which 12 Roman Catholics and 12 atheists. They all were “tortured” with a series of electric shocks as they studied two paintings – Virgin Mary and Leonardo da Vinci’s Lady With An Ermine.  

All the participants spent half an hour inside the MRI scanner and received a series of 20 electric shocks in four sessions. In each session as they looked at the paintings, they had to rate how much it hurt on a scale of 0 to 100.  

The researchers explained from the findings of this experiment that the face of Virgin Mary expected to induce a religious state of mind in the believers, on the other hand Leonardo da Vinci’s painting was chosen because it did not look dissimilar and would be calming. The analysts also found that the Catholics seemed to be better in controlling their pain as they were able to block out much of the pain. 

As a result scientists discovered that the Catholics were able to activate part of the brain associated with conditioning the experience of pain, and there was not that kind of brain activity among the atheists. The Catholics said, looking at the painting of the Virgin Mary made them feel "safe", "taken care of" and "calmed down and peaceful". Those people who looked at the image of Virgin Mary reported feeling 12% lesser pain as compared to those who looked at the image of Leonardo. 

The Rt Rev Tom Wright, the Anglican Bishop of Durham marked, “The practice of faith should, and in many cases does, alter the person you are. It can affect the patterns of your brain and your emotions. So it comes as no surprise to me that this experiment has reached such conclusions.”