Does Prayer Work?
More interesting stuff from Rational Response. It appears that there has been a more-or-less definitive study that concluded that prayer is ineffective.
It seems to me that a study in which prayers for the sick were offered by strangers could yield no other outcome for two reasons. First, the subjects surely knew they were being tested, and praying on command was hardly offering a worthy supplication. Second, and more important, God is not a prayer-granting machine: you don’t stick a prayer in, pull a lever, and have a wish granted. I would speculate that the prayers, especially because they came from strangers, lacked sincerity. Unless you stand in a loving relationship with the person or entity (such as a country) for whom you pray, it won’t work.
A better study would limit itself to prayers offered by friends and family only. I think that in that case we would see a considerable difference.
Posted: December 15th, 2006 under Religion.