Prayer does not heal the sick, study finds

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
The wish, however, was to do so. (as well as how it is understood by the OP)

I didn't understand that in the OP.

But then again, I'm an atheist, and I consider religious beliefs to be a fully human construct, that is analyseable like any other human attitude. The study simply showed that the "praying-for-the-sickly" behaviour doesn't fulfill its manifest function.

It is entirely possible to give a religious interpretation from these results. Somehting like "God has a plan for each of us anyway, so praying won't affect the immediate condition of the sick. However, praying is a way to show yourself (and thus to show God) how much you care for that person, and it contributes to you following His way".
Or something like that.

As an atheist, I find the study relatively interesting: do the well-wishes (the specific well-wishes that take the form of praying, in this study) have a placebo effect that makes you more prone to heal? It appears to be not.

[Arrian]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
A prayer is a petition of sorts. What you wish would happen. It comes true if it fits His plan.

Convenient, isn't it. And sometimes, just for kicks, His plan is to **** with you by wrecking your life as part of a test (Lot). What a guy!

-Arrian

edit: as LotM so astutely pointed out, it's Job, not Lot.

[Richelieu]

Originally posted by Arrian


Convenient, isn't it. And sometimes, just for kicks, His plan is to **** with you by wrecking your life as part of a test (Lot). What a guy!

-Arrian

Oh it's even better! He doesn't do it just for kicks! He's actually helping you in some way but you just can't understand why 'cause his ways are "mysterious". Yeah! That's the ticket: mysterious!

[Arrian]

And sometimes, when he's really on a roll, he'll fire up some genocide for ya! You get to butcher a bunch of Caananites with holy sanction. How cool is THAT?!

-Arrian

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Arrian


Convenient, isn't it. And sometimes, just for kicks, His plan is to **** with you by wrecking your life as part of a test (Lot). What a guy!

-Arrian

yup, but hes so charitable, he allows people who mock him to live. People so ignorant of the religions they criticize, they cant tell Lot from Job.

Jon, why bother? These peoples minds and hearts are closed. Its their loss, not ours.

[Japher]

One thing the study failed to mention is that everytime people prayed to Chuck Norris instead of god their prayer was awnsered.

[Winston]

I bet God thinks Arrian and Richelieu should seriously consider shutting up right about now.

And abstain from any good stuff for at least a week to make up for what they've posted.

[Arrian]

What a guy. I can mock him w/o being blasted to smitherines! How unbelieveably generous!!



Right, Job, that's it! My bad... that I really shoulda known.



But you're right, LotM. I have made up my mind, just as you've made up yours.

-Arrian

[Arrian]

Originally posted by Winston
I bet God thinks Arrian and Richelieu should seriously consider shutting up right about now.

And abstain from any good stuff for at least a week to make up for what they've posted.

I don't really care what your imaginary friend "thinks."

-Arrian

[Winston]

It seems like you don't care much for satire either. Not even the most obvious kind.

[Bill3000]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
I think that prayer can do something also....

Just not that it always does...

There is a big difference between science and the supernatural.

These people are trying to limit God. By saying that He has to work in the way they wish whenever they pray.

A big to those who thought the result would be conclusively otherwise.

Basically this was an attempt to make God under the realm of science, to probe Him with a microscope. And it failed, like it should.

JM

So you are saying that praying doesn't work when it's being studied?
How is this any different from the claims by psychics? It's quite simple. No statistically significant difference in the health of people who had not been prayed and those who have. The most logical explanation would be that praying has no effect, not that it isn't working because we are "probing God."

[Arrian]

Originally posted by Winston
It seems like you don't care much for satire either. Not even the most obvious kind.

Well, I shoulda known that staying up to 1am last night/this morning was gonna cost me today. Blah.

-Arrian

[Ben Kenobi]

So you are saying that praying doesn't work when it's being studied?

How is this any different from the claims by psychics? It's quite simple. No statistically significant difference in the health of people who had not been prayed and those who have. The most logical explanation would be that praying has no effect, not that it isn't working because we are "probing God."

That's the funny thing. By any stretch of the imagination, this is not a controlled study. First of all, you have to make sure that all the other 'outside factors' are controlled, so that something does not enter the experiment. The question here, is how would you conduct such a study when you are examining prayer and God?

How for example, do you know that there are not other people out there praying for these people? How do you measure prayer in any empirical fashion? Is one 'hail mary' equivalent to an our father, or are they better or worse, or more effective?

[Arrian]

Is one 'hail mary' equivalent to an our father, or are they better or worse, or more effective?

Silly study, btw. Very silly. What the hell did they expect to find?

-Arrian

[Richelieu]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
How for example, do you know that there are not other people out there praying for these people?
How do you measure prayer in any empirical fashion? Is one 'hail mary' equivalent to an our father, or are they better or worse, or more effective?

You know, it's funny and pathetic at the same time.