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(Don's Report to the World)
If The Choice Is Between A Wing And A Prayer, Go With The Wing: Another Prayer Study Crashes And Burns
"I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs. "
~Frederick Douglass, escaped slave.
The latest in a long line of studies on the efficacy of "intercessory prayer" was recently completed at a Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City by religious researchers (Herbert Benson, et. al.) with funds from a religious foundation. It was yet another attempt to lend scientific credibility to the preposterous notion that a supernatural power exists and sometimes elects to play doctor (in other words, he/she/it facilitates or causes healing in response to prayers). To the dismay of the faithful, the research was a big disappointment. Not only did prayers have no positive effect; they seem to have made matters worse! All this is both an embarrassment and a mystery to investigators. My explanatory theory is the Devil intercepted the prayers and distorted the prayer vibes in mischievous ways. It seems self-evident but worth noting that such studies appeal only to those who believe that a god or devil exists and that one or the other has a tendency to meddle, now and then, in human affairs.
Any time the faithful seek to exploit (and distort) science to "prove" their god lends a hand (if He deigns to do so for unknowable reasons), hopes tend to get dashed. The variables that cannot be controlled are more numerous than can be expressed, let alone managed (for example, what kind of prayers are best, how fervent and sincere must they be, how frequent, etc.) There is no consensus about the criteria for world-class, high-performance praying. Maybe all prayers are equal. The latest study only demonstrates, once again, that prayer is no more (or no less) effective than rain dances, coins tossed in a fountain (any fountain), salt sprinkled over the shoulder, possession of a rabbit's foot, knocking on wood, picking a four-leaf clover, a visit to Lourdes or Mecca or Jerusalem or undergoing a fall-down healing session onstage with Benny Hinn. Which is to say, prayer is totally useless and a waste of time, except for the beneficial effect that prayer or ANY intervention might have when a supplicant believes in the efficacy of the intervention. That, of course, is the placebo effect, a proven phenomenon not unique to prayer.
Here is a brief summary of the salient facts in the latest prayer study, as reported in the New York Times and nearly every other media outlet in America on or about March 30, 2006.
The study involved 1,800 patients who had undergone heart bypass surgery in America. The $2.4 million effort was funded by the John Templeton Foundation, which supports the search for "insights at the boundary between theology and science." Patients who were advised that they were being prayed for had a noticeably higher rate of complications. Why? Maybe this knowledge frightened the patients--they might have assumed doctors had otherwise given up on them.
Three different congregations were instructed to "pray to God to grant a successful surgery with a quick, healthy recovery and no complications."Â The prayer "beneficiaries" were separated into three distinct groups: those advised they were being prayed for, those who got prayers but did not know about it and those, like myself, for whom nobody would be doing any praying.
Overall, a little more than half of all patients (52 percent) suffered complications. However, as noted, the highest percentage of complications was in the "prayed for" group (59 percent). One interpretation of the study might be that if you are going into hospital for a serious operation, be sure to ask your friends and notify strangers as well -- "For God's sake, don't pray for me."
Richard Sloan, a physician expert on this sort of thing and the author of Blind Faith: The Unholy Alliance of Religion and Medicine, said, "The problem with studying religion scientifically is that you do violence to the phenomenon by reducing it to basic elements that can be quantified, and that makes for bad science and bad religion."
Stephen Barrett, a physician who tracks pseudo-studies for Quackwatch.com, provided this assessment:
Intercessory prayer studies accomplish nothing. Believers' won't change their view if further studies are negative, and nonbelievers won't change theirs if additional studies appear positive. Prayer may help some people feel reassured when they are worried, but to me it makes more sense to spend one's time and energy on more constructive health-promoting activities. Although luck is still a significant factor, I think it is more sensible to believe that health is more likely to be influenced by prudent living than by magical thinking. Also, if praying for people worked, would strangers praying against them cause them to become sicker? Or, as one of my religious friends put it, 'Is God so stupid that he or she would respond to popularity contests?
My favorite assessment of the study came from Paul Kurtz, chairman of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. Asked why the study found no evidence for the power of prayer, he replied, "Because there is none. That would be one answer." (Benedict Carey, "Long-Awaited Medical Study Questions the Power of Prayer," NY Times, March 31, 2006.)
Oh well, pray for me if you must but do try to be rational to the extent possible and always look on the bright side of life.
Domain: mentalSubdomain: factual knowledge
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