Praying Doesn’t Help

The AP reports that in what has been described as the largest, and best organized, study of its kind, heart patients who were prayed for by strangers experienced no benefit.

Why doesn’t this surprise me?

As a matter of fact, patients who knew they were being prayed for had a higher rate of complications than patients who only knew that such prayers were a possibility. Well that’s pretty weird.

The researchers had no explanation for this result other than perhaps patients felt some additional anxiety knowing they were being prayed for. One doctor speculated "Did the patients think, 'I am so sick that they had to call in the prayer team?'"

Yeah, I guess I can see how that might tend to inhibit recovery.

The range of reaction as to why the study found no effect was, as expected, driven by the initial prejudices of the individual.

“Paul Kurtz, professor emeritus of philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo, and chairman of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, had a blunt response when asked why he thought the study found no effect of prayer.

‘Because there is none," he said. "That would be one answer.’”

LOL! Yeah that sounds like Paul. As a matter of fact he’s probably been working on his “reaction” since before the start of the test.

“The new work, he (Kurtz) said, ‘gives added emphasis to those who have been skeptical.’”

Yes, it certainly does.

“Dr. Harold G. Koenig, director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at the Duke University Medical Center. said the results didn't surprise him.”

Perhaps not, but I’ll bet they disappointed you a bit.

“’There are no scientific grounds to expect a result and there are no real theological grounds to expect a result either," he (Koenig) said. ‘There is no god in either the Christian, Jewish or Muslim scriptures that can be constrained to the point that they can be predicted.”’

Yo Harold, you forgot Matthew 21:22 didn’t you? Allow me to refresh your memory about a quote from Jesus himself.

Matthew 21:22 "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

So I guess the Christian groups doing the praying didn’t really believe or was Jesus mistaken?

“Dr. David Stevens, executive director of the Christian Medical and Dental Associations, said he believes intercessory prayer can influence medical outcomes, but that science is not equipped to explore it. “

LOL!! I’ve seen the excuse that science isn’t really equipped to measure the effect used to explain paranormal flops on tests for everything ranging from dowsing to astrology. I guess we’ll have to now add the effect of prayer to that list.

Basically this is nonsense. Science can measure any effect on the natural world. The claim is, and always has been, that prayer can, and does, bring about effects on the natural world, so science is very much capable of measuring such effects if they exist.

"’Do we control God through prayer? Theologians would say absolutely not. God decides sometimes to intervene, and sometimes not,’ he (Stevens) said.”

Dave, I also refer you to Matthew 21:22. Theologians might say “absolutely not,” but it appears to me that Jesus promised that those that truly believe, would have what they ask for in prayer given to them.

“As for the new study, he (Stevens) said, ‘I don't think ... it's going to stop people praying for the sick.’”

I don’t think it will stop people from praying for the sick either but how about it prevents us from wasting another $2.4 million on a question that has now been answered in the negative multiple times.