sir_toejam
Posts: 846
Joined: April 2005
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| Quote | | I can't say I would expect that praying for someone who is unaware (of the prayers) to help any. |
Neither would I, nor would i think it mattered even if the patient was aware (not a double blind test*), but you might have a different rationale for reaching the same conclusion.
so, if you don't mind my asking...
why not?
btw, i found nothing nonsensical about the methods used.
check the abstract and see for yourself.
As far as I can tell, this is the same result as the other 20 studies or so that have been funded to research this "issue" over the last 20 years.
but i guess as long as the Templeton foundation wants to fund 2.4 million dollar studies to "prove" the efficacy of prayer, and don't mind continual and repeated failures to do so, I don't see the problem with 20 more of the exact same studies.
it's their money, after all.
it kind of reminds me of the independent study sponsored by Walmart to "prove" they had a positive impact on local economies, that instead ended up showing quite the opposite.
anywho, if anybody has a better method for how to test the efficacy of prayer than what was presented in this paper, I'd love to hear it.
*in fact, when the patients DID know they were being prayed for there was actually a HIGHER (barely significant) trend towards complications after surgery:
| Quote | | ...but certainty of receiving intercessory prayer was associated with a higher incidence of complications. |
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