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“The Largest Study of Third-Party Remote Intercessory Prayer Suggests Prayer Not Effective in Reducing Complications Following Heart Surgery”
- John Templeton Foundation
Prayer Does Not Help Heart Bypass Patients
- LiveScience.com
Study fails to show healing power of prayer
- Reuters
Study: Praying won’t affect heart patients
- mercurynews.com
Many report that this study suggests prayer doesn’t help heart patients. But that’s not what the study was about.
“The researchers who tested the power of prayer emphasized that their $2.4 million study could not address whether God exists or answers prayers made on another’s behalf. The study could look only for effects from the specific prayers offered as part of the research, they said.”
- Malcolm Ritter
Written prayers were given to three Christian groups. Two Catholic, one Protestant. So… the study proves that prayers read by these specific monks for people they do not know are inaffective? So? This is newsworthy? No. This is silly.
“The researchers didn’t ask patients or their families and friends to alter any plans they had for prayer, saying such a step would have been unethical and impractical.”- LifeScience
There was no attempt to account for the prayers of a patient’s friends and family. The study didn’t record the effects of heartfelt prayer for a loved one. So the patients in the “no prayer group” could have very likely been prayed for by their families. And of course, the patients in the “being prayed for” could have had fewer friends praying for them… There’s no way to account for such things.
Dr. Harold G. Koenig said science “is not designed to study the supernatural.”
This whole story reminds me of a certain scripture: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” - Luke 4:12
“There are no scientific grounds to expect a result and there are no real theological grounds to expect a result either,” he said. “There is no god in either the Christian, Jewish or Moslem scriptures that can be constrained to the point that they can be predicted.” -Dr. Koenig
God is not a gumball machine. You can’t expect to put a quarter in and get out a prize or read the right prayer and get the desired response.
Update: Chaplain Lewis has something to say about the study.
“In other news, similar studies revealed that driving down the street in a fire truck and baptizing people with its water cannon also had no discernible effect on their lives. Passing out communion wafers in shopping malls also appeared to lack effectiveness.”
