Re: prayer and healing

__> Experiments like the one Jack points us happen frequently; they are
> notoriously difficult to design and carry out; even more difficult to
> analyze.
>
> Burgy

I spoke on this topic recently for an honors colloquium (the full lecture
was on investigating the supernatural with the tools of science) and came
across a very interesting set of studies on retroactive accessory prayer. I
decided not to address these particular studies in my lecture... the
real-time prayer studies were more than enough... but the results were
certainly fascinating. Apparently prayer works even 4-10 years after the
actual medical crisis. Perfectly sensible for a God not limited by time or
space, right?

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/323/7327/1450?view=full&pmid=11751349

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/327/7429/1465

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=535973

However, I think these studies must be reinterpreted in light of the
recently published results. Perhaps the improved outcome is an artifact of
the subjects *not knowing* they were going to be prayed for 10 years later.
Received on Tue Apr 4 13:19:59 2006