Here's an idea science has yet to explore:

Bring in a bunch of atheists and give them a placebo painkiller that they know is a placebo. Then put their hands in ice water and record the pain response. Send the control group home, but ask the experimental group to believe as hard as they can in the Flying Spaghetti Monster for the next week. A week later, give everyone another placebo painkiller and another pain test. Hypothesis: intentional religiosity increases the strength of the placebo effect.

Faith might be like a muscle. And it might be possible to deliberately cultivate faith for beneficial purposes.