The River Church of Cincinnati, led by pastor Cory Bowman – half-brother of Vice President JD Vance and Republican candidate for Mayor of Cincinnati – has repeatedly promoted faith healing on social media, CityBeat found.
“Faith healing” is the belief that physical or mental healing can be achieved through the power of prayer. It’s a common practice among evangelical churches like Bowman’s The River Church, which he founded in Cincinnati’s West End neighborhood in late 2020.
According to The River Church’s website, their stated mission is to “see a strong 10,000 member church built and excel in the Downtown Cincinnati area.” The website also outlines core beliefs, including demonstrating receipt of the holy baptism by speaking in tongues.
“Christians are Followers of Christ,” the website reads. “These followers can and should operate in the same victory & power Jesus did over 2,000 years ago. This is through acceptance of Jesus as Lord over a person’s life, through studying the Word of God, and through receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues.”
Healing is mentioned broadly in some sections of the website, but in January 2023, The River Church shared a video on its social media platforms captioned, in part, “If you are suffering from any type of sickness or disease, the Bible says that, by his stripes, you were healed.” Featured in the video is a man calling himself Allen Rogers. Speaking to the camera, Rogers claims that Bowman played a role in curing his cancer.
“While incarcerated, I was diagnosed with liver cancer,” Rogers said. “And when they did the first MRIs and things on me, they said my liver was riddled with cancer tumors and I probably didn’t have too much longer.”
Rogers said in the video that “they performed some surgery,” and then he was released from prison and started attending Bowman’s church.
“I made my condition known to the pastor, and I was telling him about I had some appointments for MRIs and testing to see whether or not the tumors are spread or whether they’re shrinking from the chemo they was giving me,” Rogers said. “Never in my life before have I ever had a pastor lay hands on me, and he did. When I went and had those MRIs and CAT scans, most all the tumors was gone.”
The River Church shared this video on Instagram, YouTube and Facebook, saying, “God supernatural healed him through the power of Jesus!” Under the YouTube video, there were links showing viewers how they can donate money to the church.
Sometime during CityBeat’s inquiries into the matter, the video was removed from public view on YouTube and deleted from the church’s Facebook account. The video is still available on the church’s Instagram. No one from The River Church or Bowman’s campaign responded to requests for comment as to why these videos were removed from some platforms.
Another churchgoer, identified only as Kelly, appeared in a similar video on The River Church’s Instagram in March of last year. In the video, Kelly claimed the church helped heal her debilitating back pain.
“I was dealing with issues with my spine,” Kelly said. “They told me the only thing I can do is manage my pain, and I got prayed for it and God healed me.”
“Praise God!” said the person recording the video.
Despite phone calls, messages on Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media platforms, and physical trips to apartments associated with Rogers’ name, CityBeat could not find the whereabouts of Rogers or Kelly, and the church has not provided an update on their conditions since the first videos were posted.
When contacted, Bowman was unwilling to share more information about their health status after being “healed” by the church.
“We do not disclose specific information regarding current/former church attendees. The video was posted at the permission and request of Mr. Rogers,” Bowman told CityBeat in an emailed statement.
Throughout the course of CityBeat’s reporting on this story, Bowman only provided one emailed statement. Bowman declined to provide any further comments when CityBeat followed up in person and over email.
Speaking in a Facebook live video on Nov. 18, 2020, Cory Bowman and his wife Jordan Bowman talked about their belief in faith healing, with Jordan saying church is where the ill should be, more than anywhere else.
The day before the Facebook live video was posted, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced a statewide curfew to curb the spread of COVID. Two days before the video was shared, Ohio reported more than 100,000 new cases of the highly contagious virus.
“Don’t say, ‘oh I’m sick, I can’t come.’ No, that’s a lie,” Jordan Bowman said in the Facebook live. “If you’re sick, the church is the place for you to be, because you need to get healed, and you need to get set free.”
At the time of this Facebook live, COVID-19 rates in the state were booming; health officials had announced a 45% increase in COVID hospitalizations just a week earlier.
“God is a healer,” Bowman later said in the video, claiming that a close family member was “completely healed” of cancer.
“One day it was there, one day it wasn’t,” he said. “So, God is a healer and you can’t tell me otherwise.”
Talking about COVID lockdowns in the Facebook live, Bowman condemned governors who claimed the precautions saved lives. Citing then-governor of New York Andrew Cuomo, Bowman said, “How dare you mock God and the healing of God?” adding, “They’re wanting to shut down things because they have no knowledge of the word of God, they have no knowledge of the power of God.”
Bowman also critiqued those who question God’s healing ability.
“Don’t say ‘but,’” Bowman said. “Your big ‘but’ is getting in the way of your breakthrough and your healing.”
Bowman was more terse when discussing the practice of faith healing once contacted by CityBeat.
“I would refer you to research what the bible says or get connected with a local church if you are interested in divine healing in Christianity,” Bowman told CityBeat.
However, faith healing is a controversial practice, which has been discussed at length by religious leaders, scientists and medical experts for years.
The history of faith healing
Matthew Kraus is head of the Judaic Studies Department at the University of Cincinnati. He walked CityBeat through some examples of faith healing in the Christian Bible.
“In the New Testament, faith in Jesus healed the blind, lame, a hemorrhaging woman (Mark 5:24-34), and raised a dead person (John 11),” Kraus told CityBeat in an emailed statement. “The apostles also healed, which demonstrated that they also received the holy spirit after Jesus died and encouraged people to [have] faith in Jesus through them (Acts 5:12-16).”
St. Luke, also known as Luke the Evangelist, is considered the patron saint of healing and medicine. He was trained as a physician, and there are numerous stories of healing in his gospel. From its origins in the New Testament, the idea of spiritual healing continued throughout early Christian history.
“This idea that holy people had the power to heal continued, such as in the case of the medieval monk Luke of Steiris,” explained Kraus.
In the United States, minister Willliam Branham repopularized faith healing, leading the “healing revival” of the 1940s and ‘50s. Branham, alongside Oral Roberts and other famous pastors, traveled nationwide to perform healings for audiences of thousands. Many of Branham and Roberts’ students – like televangelist Kenneth Copeland – also consider themselves faith healers.
Dr. Adam Clark is an associate professor of theology at Xavier University.
“âEvery tradition has elements of faith healing, every Christian tradition,” explained Clark. “âI would say that the tradition that’s most active, that’s most prominent would be evangelicals and Pentecostal traditions, specifically in some non-denominational traditions.”
Clark stressed that “healing” can be broadly interpreted by those involved in faith healing.
“âIt could be emotional healing, it could be psychological, it could be physical healing,” professor Clark said. “Sometimes people make a distinction between a cure and a healing. Let’s say if you have stage four cancer; there’s a belief that you can be healed of your cancer, but maybe not cured of it, that you live with it differently…instead of being anxious and depressed, or a kind of negative consciousness about it. On the one hand, some traditions talk about, ‘I could cure you, I could get rid of the cancer altogether.’”
Does it work?
While American religious leaders have propagated the notion of faith healing, numerous journalists, academics, doctors and skeptics question its utility. Many have pointed out that recommending faith healers or traditional medical services can lead to worse outcomes for sick people.
Benjamin Radford is the deputy editor of the Skeptic Enquirer, a magazine that investigates paranormal and supernatural claims. In the book Mysterious New Mexico, Radford debunked stories about miraculous healing at the Catholic church El Santuario de Chimayo, and has published similar investigations for the Skeptic Enquirer.
“âI’ve done many investigations into miracle healings,” Radford told CityBeat. “Oftentimes, what you find is that the truth behind it falls somewhat short from the headlines.”
Radford said it can be difficult to conclusively prove the existence of any miracle, including medical miracles – medicine is full of positive recoveries already.
“âIn many cases, injuries and illnesses take care on their own, sooner or later,” Radford said. “If you’re ill, either you eventually die from it or you get better. Same thing with an injury. So the fact is that the human body does a very good job of healing itself with or without medical intervention and with or without spiritual intervention.”
For faith healing services, Radford said the church audience is often a “self-selected group,” meaning people who are already inclined to believe in the practice and want to be healed.
“They’ll be asked to stand, or if they’re in a wheelchair sit upright, and the faith healer will shout or do some sort of performative action, and that person will say, ‘oh, I feel better,’ or, ‘this is amazing,’ or, ‘I can walk,’ or what have you,” Radford explained.
While people will claim in front of a congregation that they’ve been healed, Radford said there’s usually less publicized follow-up on a person’s “healed” condition.
“You don’t see them a month later when they’re just as bad off, if not worse,” Radford said. “And these sorts of healings need to be verified by a medical doctor, and typically they’re not.”
Some have made careers out of their faith healings, only to have their work debunked. Peter Popoff was a popular televangelist in the 1980s known for his ability to supernaturally guess the illnesses of audience members and “cure” them publicly. Until magician and skeptic James Randi discovered that the church gathered the information through prayer cards given to audience members before the show; Popoff’s wife would feed the information to him through an earpiece.
“The big sensational, dramatic claims are ones that you see on Instagram, right? On YouTube, on Facebook,” Radford said. “The impression of somebody being miraculously healed in the moment. You have people who are on camera talking, sometimes in tears about their experience…of course it’s good publicity, right? So it gets shared around and the church loves it.”
Research has shown that belief in faith healing can sometimes be detrimental to people’s health.
Research published by Boise State University professor Guido Giuntini in 2023 on the Followers of Christ Church found that more than 200 children in Idaho have died of preventable illness due to faith-healing practices, and 90% would have lived had they been treated by a medical doctor. Similarly, the mortality rate for children in this church was 2.5 times higher than kids in the general population.
An investigation by professor and pediatrician Seth Asser, published in the medical journal Pediatrics in 1998, found 172 children died following faith healing between 1975 and 1995 – 140 were from easily curable or treatable medical conditions.
More recently, Mennonites have suffered from a West Texas measles outbreak, with families often forsaking medical treatment on religious grounds. Kayley Fehr, a six-year-old daughter of a Mennonite family, died from the disease in April, the first such death in the United States in a decade. Notably, the affected families are members of the Old Colony Mennonites, a sect known for their traditionalism. The Mennonite Church itself does not prohibit immunization or the use of modern medicine.
Speaking to Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vax group formerly chaired by current U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Fehr’s parents defended their decision to keep her unvaccinated.
“They think that [the measles is] not as bad as the media is making it out to be,” said a translator on behalf of the parents, who spoke a mixture of English and German. “It was her time on Earth. They believe that she is better off where she is now.”
When asked what the community can do for their family, the father said, “Just pray for us. That’s the best you can do, for now,” adding, “God is the best, the most powerful. He can do everything.”
Since January, 717 measles cases have been reported in Texas, with 93 requiring hospitalization. Two school-aged children have died of measles in West Texas; neither were vaccinated or had any underlying health conditions, according to the Texas Department of Health and Human Services.
Secretary of Health and Human Services RFK Jr.’s position on measles has been inconsistent, and he has spoken against mandating vaccines and promoted religious exemptions.
Religious protections vs. legal consequences
In Ohio, the law has carve-outs for faith healing and other alternative medical treatments.
State law does not require someone to seek traditional medical treatment for themselves or their children if it goes against recognized religious healing practices. Medical doctors and patients both have the right to decline treatment if it goes against their faith, and seek help elsewhere.
Parents who take their children to faith healers or religious leaders for medical cures, as opposed to doctors, also have protections under Ohio’s child endangerment laws. If they forsake the use of traditional medicine in favor of religious alternatives, Ohio law does not subject them to criminal liability. Though, treatments must be understood in accordance with existing child endangerment rules.
To professor Clark, âhealing practices should be complementary, not contradictory, to modern science.
“They could work with modern science, and I don’t think any responsible healer would tell you to do something that’s contrary to what the medical doctor would say,” Clark said.
Helping loved ones seek medical care, not just ‘faith healing’
Daniel Reed is the founder of the West Virginia Skeptics Society, a community that promotes skepticism of paranormal claims and critical thinking. He is also a contributor to the Skeptic Enquirer.
Speaking to CityBeat, Reed offered advice for approaching loved ones who may be forgoing medical treatment for faith healing.
“If you come in being very forceful and adamant, a lot of times it has the opposite effect,” Reed said. “The first thing people need to do is listen to what the person is saying. Listen to them, don’t just shut them down. Number two, say: ‘If you want to do that, do that, but I am also encouraging you to go to a qualified medical physician or a qualified medical provider.’”
Reed said without good-faith understanding, these types of conversations can quickly go south. More than anything, Reed wants to see more critical thinking woven into spiritual remedies when medical stakes are high.
“If we help people to understand science isn’t the bad guy – science is a way of understanding the world around us – if we help get that message out to people, I think that slowly, over time, we will have a gradual change.”
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This article appears in Apr 30 – May 13, 2025.
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