Posted on 04/01/2006 5:18:25 AM PST by mathprof
Prayers offered by strangers had no effect on the recovery of people who were undergoing heart surgery, a large and long-awaited study has found.
And patients who knew they were being prayed for had a higher rate of post-operative complications like abnormal heart rhythms, perhaps because of the expectations the prayers created, the researchers suggested.
[snip]
The question has been a contentious one among researchers. Proponents have argued that prayer is perhaps the most deeply human response to disease, and that it may relieve suffering by some mechanism that is not yet understood. Skeptics have contended that studying prayer is a waste of money and that it presupposes supernatural intervention, putting it by definition beyond the reach of science.
At least 10 studies of the effects of prayer have been carried out in the last six years, with mixed results. The new study was intended to overcome flaws in the earlier investigations. The report was scheduled to appear in The American Heart Journal next week, but the journal's publisher released it online yesterday.
In a hurriedly convened news conference, the study's authors, led by Dr. Herbert Benson, a cardiologist and director of the Mind/Body Medical Institute near Boston, said that the findings were not the last word on the effects of so-called intercessory prayer. But the results, they said, raised questions about how and whether patients should be told that prayers were being offered for them.
"One conclusion from this is that the role of awareness of prayer should be studied further," said Dr. Charles Bethea, a cardiologist at Integris Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City and a co-author of the study.
Other experts said the study underscored the question of whether prayer was an appropriate subject for scientific study.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I liked the Doctor's answer on FOX yesterday. Basically he said it was a stupid study that's unprovable one way or the other but we do know that prayer makes believers feel better so let them do it.
All ready posted and puke alert applies, how many here know prayer works?
Trust the NY Slimes to run this story...on Page One,no doubt.If this study had shown the opposite,the Slimes wouldn't have touched it.
Prayer does not heal.
GOD heals.
I know God sometimes says no to my prayers...but I will humbly continue to pray. I believe when people come together in prayer that something good comes even when the answer is no.
Take it from me, prayer does work.
Three years ago I had quintuple bypass surgery.
The first thing I did when I found out I was dying from congestive heart failure was to call my sister so her prayer group could include me in their prayers.
I reached out to all my friends to pray for me.
Well, come the operation results, no one was more surprised than me when I awoke from the surgery. Prayer does make you feel better, prayer does make you believe that you can live, prayer does work.
I'm the living proof!
DITTO
Some years ago, I was diagnosed with colon cancer. There was what the surgeon described as the largest tumor he had ever seen in that type of cancer, and he was the chief abdominal surgeon at a substantial hospital.
I asked my family and friends at my church, who are all trained, empowered and experienced prayer warriors, to pray for me.
After the first night, the only pain I had was when I laughed or coughed. The surgeon said that he had never before removed so much of a rectum without performing a colostomy. He was very proud of his work.
During the radiation and drug therapies over the next nine months, there were very few side affects. Numerous possible side effects disappeared only a few days after they began.
Other, younger people who were diagosed with the same condition I was at about the same time, with the same oncologist and surgeon, complained about a lot of pain, and had very severe side effects from the treatment. One even died.
I realize that different people have different reactions to radical treatments, but how many people are thanked by their doctors for providing an interesting case?
Yes, prayer does work.
In 1995 I was hospitalized for 51 days with pneumonia and various resultant infections.
Through my parents and friends, I was placed on the 'sick lists' of three churches, and a dear priest blessed me with holy water from Lourdes (although I'm not Catholic).
The doctors are still amazed at my recovery. But I am not. Prayer works.
For those who believe no explanation is neceassary. Those who do not beleive none will matter. I only know one thing the more I get down on my knees the more I can stand up to life.(even liberals).
For those who believe no explanation is neceassary. Those who do not beleive none will matter. I only know one thing the more I get down on my knees the more I can stand up to life.(even liberals).
Well said.
ScrappleFace
"March 31, 2006
Prayer Study: Humans Fail to Manipulate God by Scott Ott"
http://www.scrappleface.com/?p=2229
On another thread someone said that the "prayers" were given to people on cards and those people recited the "prayers." I doubt the sincerity of the "prayers."
finally somebody nails it...
Amen! :)
Yes. His will be done, because He knows what is best, even when we don't understand.
a very good point.
the whole basis of the study seems to make a mockery of religion and prayer.
the authors of the study seem to think that prayer is supposed to work in some automatic way, and that God either isn't involved in the process or that His decisions can be determined by prayer.
and the issue of informing people that other people are praying for them is done so differently in this study than it would be done in real life, that the study seems to be meaningless.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.