Serious 10 yr study shows prayer does more harm than good!

Please don’t pray for me. I want to get better.

[quote]Long-Awaited Medical Study Questions the Power of Prayer

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.

Because it is the most scientifically rigorous investigation of whether prayer can heal illness, the study, begun almost a decade ago and involving more than 1,800 patients, has for years been the subject of speculation. . .

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. . .

The study cost $2.4 million, and most of the money came from the John Templeton Foundation, which supports research into spirituality. The government has spent more than $2.3 million on prayer research since 2000. . .

In the study, the researchers monitored 1,802 patients at six hospitals who received coronary bypass surgery, in which doctors reroute circulation around a clogged vein or artery.

The patients were broken into three groups. Two were prayed for; the third was not. Half the patients who received the prayers were told that they were being prayed for; half were told that they might or might not receive prayers.

The researchers asked the members of three congregations

It’s because people have fogotten how to pray properly. It’s all a matter of faith, of belief - not hopes and wishes.

That’s all I have to say about that!

Nothing will help you MT

Answer me this Shin-Gua: if God will permit millions of innocent people to be raped, tortured, starved, burned and shot to death without blinking an eye, why would She pay any attention to someone’s weak little prayer for grandma to recover from her gallbladder surgery or whatever?

Amen!

What, doesn’t God get to take a day off here and there? Christ!

[quote=“porcelainprincess”]
What, doesn’t God get to take a day off here and there? Christ![/quote]

What? Hey, it’s my day off…Dad gets one, I do too.

Did they factor in which God they were praying to? If they’re praying to the wrong one, they’re gonna get punished for sure… sheesh

In proper science one must be able to verify the presence of a real independent variable. In this case, one must be able to verify that the members of the three congregations were indeed praying for the benefit of the patients in the experimental group. As Dragonbabe rightly pointed out to me this morning, the members of the three congregations could have in fact secretly prayed for the demise of the patients involved, or, more likely gone off into daydream land instead. Therefore we cannot actually conclude anything from this study about the efficacy of sincere prayer by the truly devout.

:stuck_out_tongue:

[quote]when Bush took over the Oval office he summoned a group of religious leaders, asked for their prayers and told them:

"There is only one reason that I am in the Oval Office and not a bar

If there’s any validity to this study then there’s a problem.

Some guys got an increased risk of complications, and apparently it’s because of the intervention of these church folks. If no one had prayed for them they would have been less likely to get sick, therefore the research team has endangered - and possibly even kiiled - some folks in the name of science. Or spirituality. Or whatever.

There’s going to be lawsuits as a result of this!

Can we pray real hard for Charles Taylor now please?

Even worse than prayers are spells.

Should have seen what happened to me after I did that Wicca spell to get miself an Asian girl (I drank too much and did stumble over this page with Asian AV stars).

Well you have.

[NeiHu]

working on becoming a Christian now

[quote=“Dragonbones”]In proper science one must be able to verify the presence of a real independent variable. In this case, one must be able to verify that the members of the three congregations were indeed praying for the benefit of the patients in the experimental group. As Dragonbabe rightly pointed out to me this morning, the members of the three congregations could have in fact secretly prayed for the demise of the patients involved, or, more likely gone off into daydream land instead. Therefore we cannot actually conclude anything from this study about the efficacy of sincere prayer by the truly devout.

:p[/quote]

Sure, but so far we have an increase in complications, with two hypotheses, neither of which bodes well for prayer:

  1. People prayed for the death of heart patients who they thought were heart patients that would benefit from prayers.
    or
  2. People prayed for the heart patients to “get well soon”.

My vote is for door number 2. Even though it’s a bit cliche - something that might be read on a Hallmark card, you know.

God is shy.

If there was no study being done, the people would have all gotten well.

:stuck_out_tongue:

You know what this proves? Those particular denominations are all wrong. Maybe we should repeat the process using every denominatin possible. The one that has the least complications and the most recoveries would then be the one true religion.

:angel:

god would obviously know the study was being done. would he want man to have undeniable proof of his ability to intervene? if he desired that it would be very simple at any time.

I saw a boy jump off a dock. And his foot got caught between two boards. He body was hanging underneath the dock…while his foot was still caught between two boards on the top of the dock. After he got free and was on the beach crying and screaming in pain. His ankle was black purple and swollen. A man who started to pray for him blew on the ankle…the black and purple blew away as if it was dust. And the boys screams turned into laughter as he was healed by the prayers.

I’ve also stood in the pouring rain singing christian songs with a group only to see the rain split to miss us. I was also once attacked by a vicious dog and after saying a quick prayer the animals demenor did a 180.

I also watched my mom die a slow a painful death while myself and everyone I knew prayed for her. So who knows.

Humans have been praying in one guttural form or another since we developed vocal kords. I bet animals pray as well, in their own damn way.

And the power of that prayer or mantra can do wonders for SOME people in the RIGHT place at the RIGHT time. Call it self-delusion if you will, but until we actually figure out our own brain, let alone that of other species, i think it’s all conjecture. The power of the mind is as of yet, indecipherable.

And I bet the scientific method of these kind of studies is closely akin to those suggesting that Masturbation will Lead To Ruin…

I’m not a fan of organized religion, but I think that individual practice of a belief system is a good thing for those who need it.

Everyone needs some mental masturbation [LITERATURE] once in a while. You can tell those that haven’t, they’ve all got that blank expression…

:eh:

Sorry. Can’t resist this:
“Cat got your Tongue?”
:wink: