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.
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.