Can meditation cause harm?

[loostudent]

In one of the more recent articles I was reading, the researchers found that having strong religious beliefs was associated with a *lower* incidence of harmful effects. I found this surprising since certain versions of religious belief (particularly Christianity) actually warn practitioners against doing any kind of meditation, claiming that it opens the mind up to "evil" influences and/or serves as a kind of Trojan horse for "false" spiritual beliefs (they seem to be particularly concerned about Buddhism).

This is the official standpoint of the Catholic Church:

The majority of the great religions which have sought union with God in prayer have also pointed out ways to achieve it. Just as "the Catholic Church rejects nothing of what is true and holy in these religions," neither should these ways be rejected out of hand simply because they are not Christian. On the contrary, one can take from them what is useful so long as the Christian conception of prayer, its logic and requirements are never obscured.

(Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith)

It's not against meditation per se. It's against accepting some beliefs that could be connected with some meditation methods. Beliefs that are incompatible with teachings of Jesus.