One issue in the debate about faith concerns the stance a religious person is committed to take on "God exists." I argue that this stance is best understood as an assumption that God exists for the purpose of pursuing a good relationship with God. The notion of an "assumption for practical purpose" is distinguished from notions such as "belief" and "hope." This stance is contrasted with others found in discussions of faith, and its ramifications for the problem of whether it is rational to have faith are discussed.

Background: Exercise is advocated in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, uncertainty around the acute effects of exercise on pain and inflammation may be stopping people with RA from exercising more regularly. Objectives: To determine the acute effects of exercise on pain symptoms, clinical inflammatory markers, and inflammatory cytokines in RA. Design: A systematic review of the literature. Data sources and methods: Five databases were searched (PubMed, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, Scopus and SPORTDiscus); inclusion criteria were studies with acute exercise, a definite diagnosis of RA and disease characteristics assessed by clinical function (i.e., disease activity score, health assessment questionnaire and self-reported pain), clinical markers associated with inflammation (i.e., c-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR)), and inflammatory cytokines (i.e., interleukin 6 (IL-6) and tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α)). Results: From a total of 1544 articles, initial screening and full text assessment left 11 studies meeting the inclusion criteria. A total of 274 people were included in the studies (RA = 186; control = 88). Acute bouts of aerobic, resistance, and combined aerobic and resistance exercise did not appear to exacerbate pain symptoms in people with RA. Conclusion: Post-exercise responses for pain, clinical inflammatory markers and inflammatory cytokines were not different between people with or without RA. Exercise prescription was variable between studies, which limited between-study comparisons. Therefore, future investigations in people with RA are warranted, which combine different exercise modes and intensities to examine acute effects on pain symptoms and inflammatory markers. Registration: The PROSPERO international prospective register of systematic reviews – CRD42018091155.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract