The Power of Prayer

The LA Times ^ | March 31, 2006 | Denise Gellene

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"The largest study yet on the therapeutic power of prayer by strangers has found that it provided no benefit to the recovery of patients who had undergone cardiac bypass surgery.

In an unexpected twist, patients who knew prayers were being said for them had more complications after surgery than those who did not know, researchers reported Thursday.

The complications were minor, and doctors surmised that they could have been caused by the increased stress on patients worried that their conditions were so bad they needed prayers... "

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-prayer31mar31,1,3169049.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

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I found this rather interesting and figured i'd pass it along. the original study was posted in the American Heart Journal. You can read the abstract here:

http://www.ahjonline.com/article/PIIS0002870305006496/abstract

[kingattax]

the LA Times is more in need of prayer than any surgery patient.

[The Brush]

So what they're saying is that some of these people never had a prayer

[Paperdoll]

Gee, I have a wretched cold and I would appreciate prayers, but will pass them up because there are so many more that need them more than I. God truly does answer prayer.

[cyclotic]

Another article told the truth about the "prayers" in the study. A group of people were handed cards with the "prayer" on it and a partial name of the patient. They just kept reading the cards. No real mention if the pray-ers were even believers in God. I'm guessing that they were paid to "pray" as well.

Sorry, bogus study.

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I'm not so sure it is bogus, here's a quote from the study:

"The first name, first initial of last name, and an anonymous site code for patients assigned to groups 1 and 3 (those to receive intercessory prayer) were placed on the prayer list for 14 consecutive days, starting the night before each patient's scheduled surgery. The same daily updated list was faxed to each of 3 intercessory prayer groups every weekday throughout the study,20 and the list was posted in a central location not later than 7:15 pm EST each evening, with intercessory prayer beginning by midnight for patients on the list. The intercessors agreed to add the phrase “for a successful surgery with a quick, healthy recovery and no complications” to their usual prayers."

Ok, so they weren't being given prayers on cards to read over and over, they were rather being asked to add the patients to their prayer list.

also:
"Intercessors from 3 Christian groups (2 Catholic groups [St Paul's Monastery, St Paul, MN; Community of Teresian Carmelites, Worcester, MA) and 1 Protestant group [Silent Unity, Lee's Summit, MO]) provided study prayer throughout the trial. We were unable to locate other Christian, Jewish, or non-Christian groups that could receive the daily prayer list required for this multiyear study."

So the people giving the prayers did believe in god.

The methods section of the study makes no mention with regard to payments. I would assume however that the churches who were performing the study prayer would not accept cash in exchange.